I remember vividly April 2009. It was when we found out our baby daughter had
Neuroblastoma. Life stands still and
then it changes completely, forever. We
quickly adapted to taking life one day at a time. Changes over 24 hours for children with cancer can be so drastic, you
never know if one day could be the last.
Isla was diagnosed at Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital and
within 10 days she was taken by Ambulance to Glasgow’s Yorkhill hospital
critically ill. Luckily, she was given
the best care and 13 weeks later Isla was transferred back to Aberdeen and
closer to home. Isla endured treatment
for almost 2 years. During that time we
received support from charities offering holidays or help with travelling
expenses. Clic Sargent were able to
offer us a few cheque's towards travelling expenses and a much needed family
holiday to Malcolm Sargent House in Prestwick. We received holidays from Calum’s Cabin and
Christian Lewis Trust (now known as Kids Cancer Charity). Ross worked in the Royal Air Force and SSAFA
gave support to him at work and support to us all when home.
When it was discovered that Isla still had cancer following
surgery to remove her tumour at the beginning of 2010 and Isla would need more
treatment, I felt helpless and wanted to do something…anything. I
decided to shave off the hair on my head for Cancer Research UK, raising over £4,700.
Ross and his friends joined in too with their fundraising having a full
body wax, raising about £1,000 for
the Neuroblastoma Society. We had caught
a ‘bug’ for fundraising and my next challenge was to do a tandem Sky Dive for
Sparks for Neuroblastoma Research raising over £2,000.
While the fundraising for research had begun, we also
started fundraising for Isla. Initially
we wanted a special family holiday.
Unfortunately Isla was too young to be granted a wish holiday, but we
knew time was precious and we were fearful that Isla’s Neuroblastoma would
recur and we wouldn’t have the chance.
All that time in hospital meant time apart from Isla’s big sisters Becky
and Cerys, which was incredibly difficult.
We needed a special family holiday to remember and cherish. I started fundraising for our holiday. Luckily Logan’s Fund granted us £3000 towards
it, and many others came forward with donations and fundraising. We were overwhelmed with the support for our
holiday. We raised over £8000 due to the kindness of family,
friends and strangers and had a wonderful holiday to Disneyland Paris and a
short break to London.
Once Isla’s hospital treatment was complete we started a
fundraising appeal in Isla’s name so if her cancer returned, we could have the
option of paying for treatment abroad for her.
We made the decision that if Isla did not need treatment then we would
give the money to Neuroblastoma charities and research. Fundraising was stepped
up a gear as we created events and encouraged others to fundraise/support
us. Isla’s final appeal total was £23,296.87. We have
designated £15,000 of this money to go to Neuroblastoma research, and we are
still looking for the right research project.
The remaining £8,296.87 has been gifted to Logan’s Fund to help with
Logan’s Sunny Days.
When Ross and I had a wedding reception
in 2010, we requested no gifts, and instead collected money for Yorkhill
(Schiehallion Ward), The Archie Foundation (money split between parent
accommodation and Moray Friends of Archie) and SSAFA. We also gave guests a card detailing a
donation for Neuroblastoma in their name instead of a wedding favour. We raised almost £2500.
When Isla was declared in remission in 2011 we held a disco
fundraising for Malcolm Sargent House, Calum’s Cabin and Christian Lewis Trust
who had all provided holidays for us during and after Isla’s treatment. We raised £360 and split the money between them.
In 2012, we were looking for another fundraising idea and
discovered The Speyside Kiltwalk. We signed
up a couple of weeks before the event and I think we managed to raise £250.
We got a lot out of doing the first Kiltwalk and we were so pleased to
give to the nominated charities (Clic Sargent being one).
We were aware that if you had teams of over 6 people doing a
Kiltwalk you could nominate a charity and 50% of your fundraising would go to
that charity, while the other 50% would go to Kiltwalk’s partner charities. We knew straight after doing the Kiltwalk
that we’d be doing it again and that we would do it for Logan’s Fund. We had always wanted to give back to the
charity that helped us with our special holiday, to honour Logan’s legacy and
show support to his very special parents, who continue to help others, which cannot be easy. 2013 saw us create a team
for Logan’s Fund alongside the chairperson Cameron Mackintosh. Our personal fundraising Kiltwalk total for
2013 was £1,615.10, while the team total was around £14000
with Logan’s Fund receiving around £7000. 2013 also seen us become Bucketeers for Clic
Sargent, raising £347.60.
Our love affair with
the Kiltwalk continued in 2014 and we raised £1,247.00, with a team
total of about £20,000 (£10,850 to Logan’s Fund). The Kiltwalk
had become incredibly important to us, a community of like-minded people who we
kept meeting and raising money in similar circumstances to our own. In 2015 I had decided to do a Special
Kiltwalk; a Kilt Trek. I signed up to
climb Kilimanjaro in October 2015, and our fundraising had to step up a gear in
order to raise enough money.
Unfortunately after signing up my mother was diagnosed with Ovarian
cancer. She encouraged me to go ahead
with my trek and I had her blessing. 2015
got off to a great start. We were
honoured as a family to receive ‘The Karen McMurrich Outstanding Contribution’
award at the annual Kiltwalk Burns Supper.
Unfortunately the Kiltwalk were having their own troubles and events were
cancelled after the Aberdeen Kiltwalk in June, including the trek to
Kilimanjaro and the Speyside Kiltwalk.
We had walked at
Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen through the Kiltwalk in 2015 and we knew many
people, like ourselves had signed up to do all the events that year. Some of us got our heads together and managed
to create The Walk-Speyside. I just didn’t
want to see that walk taken away from all the people who loved it as much as us. I also managed to arrange an alternative trek
for Kilimanjaro (with my mum being unwell I wanted to be in the country) and
walked the West Highland Way.
Our fundraising total for 2015 for Logan’s Fund was £3881.25, with
a team total of almost £20,000 from the 2015 Kiltwalks.
In 2015, we had the
opportunity to be involved in a ‘Surprise Surprise’ for Caroline Spiers, the
mother of Calum Spiers of Calum’s Cabin.
We were delighted to take part and let everyone know just how special Caroline
is, of how all parents who have lost a child to cancer and still try to help
others are. We were filmed on the sixth
anniversary of Isla’s ambulance transfer to Glasgow, and it helped us to look
back at how far we had come.
After 6 years of
fundraising we decided we would take a break, to focus on spending time
together as a family and to rest. My mum
passed away in November 2015. My elder
daughters move away in summer to begin college and university. We just needed some time for family. We managed to go back to Disneyland Paris to
celebrate Isla being 5 years off treatment – a milestone for Neuroblastoma.
However, we couldn’t
resist taking part in the Clan walk at Balmoral in April and raised £105. Clan were a great support during
Isla’s treatment and I introduced my dad to them in January and he has found
them to be a great help in coming to terms with the loss of my mum.
Even though we took a
break from actively fundraising we give a monthly donation to Calum’s Cabin and
helped by being supporters at their Pit Stop at the Glasgow Kiltwalk this
year. We give an annual donation to The
Archie Foundation in lieu of Christmas cards for families who have to spend
Christmas in hospital, just like we did in 2009; we’ve donated £300 so
far.
Because of Isla, we
have tried to raise awareness and money for Neuroblastoma and childhood
cancers. Emotionally we get a lot out of giving back, or giving to others who might be in a similar position to the one we were in. I say it all the time, but I wake up grateful every single day to still have Isla with us and I can never repay the universe for her still being with us today. Our fundraising total so far is
around £50,000, and if you include the team totals for the Kiltwalk's for 2013, 2014 and 2015 then it is almost £100,000.
So, what’s next? Speyside Kiltwalk on 14th August
perhaps? ;-)
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