Walk of Light in aid of Blood Cancer UK: Isla and I walking in step with our friends to live in a world free of blood cancer
Amy Gannon writes a fortnightly column for the Indie called Life with Leukaemia, documenting her Bishop's Stortford family's story of navigating the emotional, physical and financial challenges of living with blood cancer
‘We won’t be living in these dark days forever, The future is full of light and love, Let’s keep walking towards that…’
This past week has been full of ups and downs, as life alongside cancer always is. As a family we have had to isolate as my partner Joel’s blood counts are too low for him to safely mix with others. To protect him from picking up any viruses, bugs, illnesses, I have been home-schooling our five-year-old daughter, Isla, and staying off work.
The Blood Cancer UK fundraiser Walk of Light was a huge boost for us and something positive for us to look forward to and focus on.
My employer, Jojo Maman Bébé, in North Street, Bishop's Stortford, have once again been truly outstanding in their support of my family’s situation.
Isla’s teacher delivered learning resources to our door to support her home-schooling. It takes the strength and bravery of an army to fight cancer day in day out and we definitely could not do it without the support network of the truly amazing people in our lives and community.
As a family we signed up to Walk of Light and began fundraising after I showed Isla videos and pictures of previous events. She wanted to do her own walk to raise money to help her daddy. "Mummy, if I raise lots of money, will they make a better medicine for Daddy?"
Isla understands that her daddy is unwell, she is so respectful of his limitations. She has been truly outstanding throughout all the change in her little world this past year.
She wanted to invite some of her friends from Summercroft Primary School to join her in her mission to light up the night to make the futures of those fighting blood cancer brighter.
When the sun set on Saturday March 26 we met at Parsonage Lane Community Centre and began our Walk of Light. It was truly heart-warming to see the children on their walk with their glow sticks, lanterns and torches, enjoying themselves so much.
Kirstin McConnell and her daughters Alyssa, 5, and Georgie, 3, joined us on our walk for their great-grandmother, Betty.
"Our lovely great-grandma has been living with leukaemia for several years," said Kirstin. "Medicines and medical professionals have kept her leukaemia well managed and it has prolonged her quality of life, so she can have a relationship with her great-grandchildren."
Chelsey May and her little girl Ava, 5, walked to support her aunt Jackie to inspire her to keep strong and keep fighting leukaemia.
The evening was a wonderful way to spread awareness and raise money for Blood Cancer UK.
The Walk of Light had 1,762 registrations this year and people walked all over the UK and further afield. Some walked to remember a lost loved one, others walked to inspire and motivate someone currently battling this cruel disease, but whatever the motivation behind the steps, everyone is united in their desire to live in a world where we can say we beat blood cancer.
Unfortunately, blood cancer is not something that can be cut out. There is no quick fix, it moves around the whole body. Patients of all ages rely on long and gruelling chemotherapy and biological therapies in the hope of reaching a cure and avoiding the dangers of a bone marrow transplant. Therefore, research is so vital to create gentler and tolerable cures for blood cancer.
Collectively, we have raised £1,760 to help Blood Cancer UK. The Walk of Light as a whole raised an outstanding £146,088, including Gift Aid, and the money is still coming in.
The feeling of togetherness that this event brought was priceless and the boost it gave to all those taking part was wonderful. This inspired me to look for further fundraisers.
Leukaemia Care has a 'Step Out For Spot Leukaemia' challenge whereby you walk, run or move as many miles as you can in the course of September to raise money for those affected by a leukaemia diagnosis. More details and the sign-up page can be found here: https://www.leukaemiacare.org.uk/get-involved/take-on-a-challenge/step-out-for-spot-leukaemia/
Blood Cancer UK has lots of fundraising ideas on its website featuring virtual fundraisers for those shielding. See https://bloodcancer.org.uk/get-involved/fundraising-events-and-challenges/virtual-fundraising/.
Links to Justgiving pages: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/amy-gannon2 https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kirstin-mcconnell https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/chelsey-may1.
