Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

On the 8th February 1991 my husband and I heard the words no parent ever wants to hear - our son has Cancer!!!  Bobby was only just four years old when he was diagnosed with B-cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Stage 3.  He was to spend the following month in Birmingham Childrens Hospital fighting for his life.  And fight he did!

Over the next few months Bobby received six months of intensive chemotherapy.  He lost his hair two weeks after starting treatment.  There were times when his immunity was so low he succumbed to infections and was very ill indeed.  There was another time when he had a minor seizure, almost immediately followed by another seizure which the medical staff fought for five hours to bring him out off.  All I could do was watch and wait.  It was a very long night but Bobby pulled through.  There was yet another time when he had a very bad reaction to a blood transfusion.  Once again Bobby was very ill but pulled through.  After that, all his blood transfusions had to be screened before he was given them.  I could then see why the Blood Donation Service was so particular about the type of blood they could receive and why they would not take blood from anyone receiving any kind of medication, etc.

Eventually, Bobby went into remission and finished his chemotherapy treatment.  He started school as planned in September 1991 and has been free of cancer now for 25 years.

During Bobby's illness and ensuing treatment we, as a family, had a great deal of help and support from The Society of Parents of Children with Cancer (SPoCC) and Malcolm Sargent Cancer Care for Children (CLIC Sargent), not forgetting the community of Far Cotton, Northampton including the Revd. Canon George Burgon and the congregation of St. Mary's Church, Far Cotton whose prayers and support helped our family to get through those dark days. 

We also had a great deal of help from St. Mary's Day Nursery who provided a full-time place for our 18 month old daughter Emma, thus giving her a regular routine which is so important for a young child whose family life had been turned upside down.  This was very much appreciated, especially as a month after Bobby was diagnosed, his father and my husband Robert was made redundant, resulting in him suffering with depression!

Bobby is one of the fortunate children affected by cancer - he survived!  And for that we will be forever thankful.  To commemmorate the 25 years since Bobby's diagnosis and to say thank you to SPoCC and CLIC Sargent for their help and support all those years ago, I will be having my long hair cut short on Monday 8th February.  I am also hoping to sell the cut-off hair to raise further funds.  It would be amazing if I could raise £2500 - £100 for each of the last 25 years!

As Just Giving doesn't allow me to have two charities on one page, I will be having a page for each charity.  This one for SPoCC and a second for CLIC Sargent.  I would be very grateful if you could support both charities but donations can be made to whichever one you prefer.

THANK YOU!

UPDATE!!!

A  Massive THANK YOU to those of you have donated to my two Just Giving pages, I really appreciate your support. At 9am on Monday I was getting  rather worried that the event would never happen as the hairdresser who was supposed to do my hair let me down at the last minute! All the local hairdressers are closed on a Monday but in the end I contacted Elliott Reeves nextdoor to Tesco Extra Northampton South  who cut my hair for free.

The manager, Nikki, cut my hair and it also turns out that one of my charities, CLIC Sargent, is very close to her heart  as her nephew had cancer of the bladder aged just two nearly three years ago and the family had a lot of support from CLIC Sargent.

It is so strange how fate plays a hand - and often for the best.

Here is the proof that my long hair has now gone!!!

Many, many thanks Nikki. x