Supporting Pete and Joanna Hunt with their daughter’s Tula’s battle through Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) and Bone Marrow Transplant.

We are writing this as close friends on behalf of their family.

Their daughter Tula, who is 6 years old, has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), a rare and extremely aggressive form of childhood cancer that requires 5 months of immediate intensive chemotherapy in Southampton and a bone marrow transplant at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, South London where the family will be based for another 4 months - at a minimum.

Having been struggling with infections for a month, Tula was taken to St Mary's hospital where blood tests shockingly revealed the diagnosis. The family were immediately evacuated from the Isle of Wight to the mainland without having any chance to go home.

Tula is currently receiving specialist care at The Piam Brown Unit at Southampton Children’s Hospital, one of only 22 regional paediatric oncology centres in the UK. Treatment has already begun, and the coming weeks are among the most critical.

At the same time, Tula’s mum, Joanna, has had to handle this in the last week of her pregnancy. We are happy to update you that happily Leo David Daley Hunt arrived safely (in 40 minutes!) in Princess Anne Hospital next door to where Tula is being treated on 9th February at 12.42am.

The family now face new born challenges with some of the most demanding weeks of Tula’s chemotherapy, not least keeping Tula in isolation as she recovers from shingles and a respiratory infection. Agonisingly this has meant that the Hunts have had to keep the family split up and segregated in the first weeks of Leo's life.

For those of you who don’t know Joanna - she is a self-employed yoga teacher and coach when she is not looking after her children. Joanna is American and faces all of this without her blood family to be able to be consistently by her side.

Even for someone of Joanna's incredible strength - this is an absolute Everest to climb.

The family also have a three-year-old daughter, Alora. Ensuring Alora is supported while her parents are stretched across months of hospital care, childbirth, and recovery is a major part of the enormous challenge the family is facing.

Because of the specialist care Tula requires without any chance of home leave, the Hunts have had to relocate from their home on the Isle of Wight to Southampton (on the UK Mainland) and then onto Southern London. They estimate they will need to be based on the mainland for the remainder of 2026, with further extended stays likely over the following months, and potentially years, depending on Tula’s response to treatment and recovery.

Pete is self-employed and runs a personal development platform for men in leadership called Monumental, alongside hosting The Monumental Podcast. During this period, he will need to step away from full time work to be a carer and present father - supporting Tula through treatment, being there for Joanna during birth and recovery, and caring for Alora.

The Hunt family are people who have consistently given to others through their work and community involvement. Now, they need the space to focus fully on their own family without the added weight of financial pressure.

This fundraiser has been set up to help ease the practical and financial realities they are facing, including:

•⁠ ⁠Accommodation and living costs while based in Southampton and London over 8 months.

•⁠ ⁠Travel for the wider support groups that are necessary between hospital, accommodation, and home.

•⁠ ⁠Day-to-day household expenses while Pete is unable to work full-time and support for Alora to remain infection free and Tula's chief cheerleader.

•⁠ ⁠Stem Cell capture and storage for potential future transplants and medical advances.

We initially estimated costs of £75,000 but given the latest news of her needing a bone marrow transplant and all the implications of this - we are going to set a new target of £100,000 (approx $130,000).

Any support whether through a donation or by sharing this page will help create vital breathing room for the family for a prolonged time when their energy needs to be focused entirely on care, presence, and love.

Many people have asked how they can help. Not that they asked or put this gofundme forward, but the blunt reality is that past prayers, finance is the only way that many of us can help and I would ask you to dig deep into your resources.

Knowing the Hunt family, I know that whatever comes, they will use this desperately hard time to positive effect in the world.

Thank you for standing with the Hunt family.

Very best,

Ollie Birch