Bath runners for Birch and Blood Cancer
Donation protected
Hello Everyone!
Hope you are all having a great start to 2013!
This page has been set up for two reasons.
1-
A group of us are taking the plunge (pardon the pun) and running
the Bath Half Marathon in March 2013 for the Plymouth District and
Leukaemia Fund (PDLF) and the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research charity.
The PDLF is a local charity which is currently supporting
the development of the long awaited new Haematology Birch ward at
Plymouth's Derriford Hospital.
During the first half of this year I was a patient under their outstanding care after being diagnosed with leukaemia and since Novemeber am back again after relapsing and will need a bone marrow transplant through the Antony Nolan register. The Derriford haematology unit is now a new transplant centre and the first unrelated bone marrow transplant has recently happened! The PDLF is helping to fund small touches and provisions in the 10 new protective rooms (there are currently 6!) to make inpatients stays for the long periods of time more pleasant and comfortable. The small things such as photographs of beautiful natural landscapes and coastal towns of the South West around the ward certainly break up the clinical monotony in which we are immersed. So we are running to support them and if any of you would be interested in supporting us it would be much appreciated!
During the first half of this year I was a patient under their outstanding care after being diagnosed with leukaemia and since Novemeber am back again after relapsing and will need a bone marrow transplant through the Antony Nolan register. The Derriford haematology unit is now a new transplant centre and the first unrelated bone marrow transplant has recently happened! The PDLF is helping to fund small touches and provisions in the 10 new protective rooms (there are currently 6!) to make inpatients stays for the long periods of time more pleasant and comfortable. The small things such as photographs of beautiful natural landscapes and coastal towns of the South West around the ward certainly break up the clinical monotony in which we are immersed. So we are running to support them and if any of you would be interested in supporting us it would be much appreciated!
2-
The second reason is slightly more personal. Ideally I wanted to
avoid facebook but the scale of gratitude slightly made the chances of
me meeting everyone an impossible task! On behalf of
myself and my family I want to thank everyone
for the enormous amount of support and compassion we received when I
was first diagnosed and throughout treatment. An abundance of beautiful
cards, messages, phone calls, visits, deliveries of salt, coffee and
bananas, balloons and money raised through Chris
Harbinson's page he set up for us, it was overwhelming and I can not
thank you enough. In addition I would like to say a special thank you to
my close family and friends, as their support was priceless and
invaluable. So from my perspective, the purpose of this
page is to say a very belated and current thank you and also highlight
that the money raised is our way of thanking all the staff of Birch Ward
for their unbeatable level of care. (It was the staff's request that any thanks be
directed towards the development of the new
unit.) I will be putting some of the money you gave from Chris's fundraising page towards the cause and the rest will go towards my family's
expenses after migrating to Plymouth for 6 months! For now I am
determined to make it to Bath,
but unfortunately will not be able to take part. So if anyone is keen to have my place last minute, it would be much
appreciated and please just message. Finally I would like to put out a plea for any of you who are not already registered with the Antony Nolan Bone Marrow register to please, please consider signing up. It truly is life saving for those of us without sibling matches and there can never be enough donors! It is a frightening prospect when you don't have a match and there are many who are in this position. The more donors the more lives can be saved!
So thank you everyone, best wishes and hopefully some of you may consider running with our dedicated team of experienced runners or supporting them on the day!
Much love from us all; Ella Daniels, Sophie Marsh, Lucy Warlock, Olivia O'Donovan, Olivia's Mum, Hannah Lewis, Laura Carr, Chris Harbinson, Alex George and Freya Barlow.
PS. Chief Mascot is Laura Carr so feel free to join her on the side lines xxxxx
So thank you everyone, best wishes and hopefully some of you may consider running with our dedicated team of experienced runners or supporting them on the day!
Much love from us all; Ella Daniels, Sophie Marsh, Lucy Warlock, Olivia O'Donovan, Olivia's Mum, Hannah Lewis, Laura Carr, Chris Harbinson, Alex George and Freya Barlow.
PS. Chief Mascot is Laura Carr so feel free to join her on the side lines xxxxx
Organizer
Freya Barlow
Organizer
