Issy & Sofia Honey Fundraising

We are raising money for two special girls. Issy and Sofia both battling forms of Leukaemia. Issy is having treatment under the Royal Marsden Hospital and Sofia under Addenbrookes. We are both going to run a Half Marathon on the 16th July and any donations will be split between the two hospitals. Please take time to read their personal stories below xx

Issy‘s Story

In June 2019, just 10 weeks before her 12th birthday, Issy was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL), a blood cancer which affects around 440 children in the UK each year. Her family's world fell apart. Nine days later, just as they were beginning to recover from the shock, Issy's consultant broke the news that Philadelphia Chromosome Positive had also been detected. PH+ALL is a rare leukaemia subtype that affects around 3-4% of children with ALL.

Since diagnosis Issy and mum, Annie, have spent almost 50% of their time in NHS hospitals including St George's Tooting, East Surrey and, their second home, the Royal Marsden in Sutton. The care Issy and her family have received has been outstanding. Nurses, doctors, healthcare assistants, cleaning and kitchen crews, play therapists, charity workers, physio, massage and psychotherapists, everyone has done their utmost to make Issy's treatment and her whole family's journey as comfortable as possible. Now Issy and her family want to give something back.

Sofia Honeys Story

On 10/02/2020 Sofia Honey was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) at just 5 years old!

The weekend before, she had a slight temperature and a slight cough, but her parents put it down as being ‘viral’. Sofia Honey went to school Monday to Wednesday as normal, as she wasn’t poorly - she just was spiking a bit of a fever but it would come down with calpol. On the Thursday, she still wasn’t up to much, so on the Friday her Mum took her to the doctors. The doctor diagnosed glandular fever, and told us to get blood tests done to confirm, at our convenience. Even though time to get the bloods done was minimal, Mum knew she needed to get them done that night. 3 hours later they had missed calls and appointments to go to their local hospital. Blood tests were inconclusive, and we were told we’d need to be transferred to Addenbrookes. After a couple of days in NNUH, they travelled down to Addenbrookes. The next morning, after a bone marrow aspirate the results were concluded, and Adam & Sammy found out their precious baby had cancer!

Hearing the words - I’m sorry, your child has cancer.. deathening! The room fell silent. Words you never can take in. Understandably, this turned their lives upside down.

Despite all the tough treatment and side effects not once has she refused to do anything. She just gets on with whatever is needed. Her hair has just started thinning, and she says “That’s OK Mummy, I understand”.

Seeing her go through all of this is simply heart wrenching. She still manages to put on a brave face and smile - especially when she sees her girlies!

Both of these hospitals have provided not only support for the girls but also their families too.

Please help us to help them give back.

Thank you for reading xx Nat and Kat xx