You can help (26/2/2010)
It’s easy to make a single or monthly donation with a credit or debit card online. All you need to do is go to justgiving.com JustGiving reclaims Gift Aid automatically and pays donations to us directly at the end of every week. The site is 100% secure.
Great North Run Candlelighters Gold Bond places available (4/2/2010)
We are delighted to inform any Candlelighters supporters planning their next charity run that we have a Gold Bond Package this year for the Bupa Great North Run on 19 September.
This means we have 150 Gold Bond places available and a hospitality tent in the charity village at the end of the race.
The Candlelighters Team is eager to gain more participants. If you have your own place already via the public ballot, please contact us. Alternatively, apply for one of our Gold Bond Places by downloading our Candlelighters Great North Run form on the Great North Run page under Get Involved/Fundraising.
Runners get a fundraising pack, a Candlelighters running vest or T-shirt and an invitation to our hospitality tent at the end of the race.
Last year we had a Silver Bond Package which provided us with 85 Silver Bond places (and the hospitality tent). However lots of other supporters got their own places, giving us an overall number of 115 runners in the team. It was a fabulous day with great community spirit! We also raised plenty of funds through sponsorship.
Get Involved (29/1/2010)
Over the past two decades Harrogate Candlelighters has held many landmark events which raise the profile and the many changing needs of the Children’s Cancer Unit at St James’s. Activities such as the annual Flag Day in Harrogate Town centre are community events providing an opportunity for volunteers to aid the charity; students from Harrogate Grammar have been a mainstay of the rota over the past several years.
Harrogate’s 2010 Spring Lunch at Rudding Park will feature the fashions of Caroline Charles accented by jewellery from Ogdens of Harrogate. In June the Ripley Castle Grand Summer Sale sees the Harrogate Committee meeting old friends and selling raffle tickets over the four days of the sale. Our annual summer car wash with Harrogate Fire Station in June benefits Candlelighters and the Firefighters charity. Harrogate’s main fundraising event, our annual Autumn Ball, is always a fun event with lots of surprising entertainment.
Harrogate Candlelighters is always interested in offers of sponsorship from individuals, companies, and volunteers for the committee or any of our annual events. If you’d like to help make the phrase “Terminally ill children” a phrase of the past please contact us.
Candlelighters supports Rothwell boy (4/2/2010)
Luke Bell from Rothwell in Leeds was just eight years old when he was diagnosed with cancer – or to be more precise, Burkitts Lymphoma, a type of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
His tumour spread from his abdomen to spleen and bone marrow and he had to undergo a total of nine chemotherapy sessions over an eight-month period.
His 11-week stay in St James’s Hospital was made bearable by the dedication and enthusiasm of Candlelighters’ full-time play workers. If Luke was too ill to get out of bed they would go and sit with him for hours and play, or just watch a DVD.
The Candlelighters team also provided Luke and his family with several special experiences to help him feel better and speed up his recovery. These included a trip to the Leeds United training academy to meet all the players, a day horse-riding at a centre in Middleton, and a fun day at Sherburn Aero Club, where members donated their own time, fuel and planes to take Luke and other children out on trips. Luke and his mum had a trip to the Humber Bridge and back, then two rides in a helicopter around the airfield. The local fire brigade did trips in the fire engines and there was a raffle in which Luke won loads of presents.
In April last year, a relieved Luke and his family were told that the tumour had responded to the treatment and he was given the official all-clear in August.
Luke's Mum Julie said: “He is a fit and healthy normal boy again and is back doing the things he loves doing – school not included!”
See Luke pictured above with Leeds United player Robert Snodgrass.
A big thank you from the Lound family (4/2/2010)
Three years ago if you had asked Hull businessman Geoff Lound what he knew about Candlelighters the answer would probably have been “not a lot”!
Now, three years down the line, Geoff, his wife Sue and their two sons, Greg and Christopher, know more than most.
Like most people who have come into contact with the organisation they are full of praise and gratitude, and want to put something back in the pot for others to draw on.
Christopher was only 12 when he was diagnosed with Aplastic Anaemia. That was enough to turn the Lound family’s world upside down and set them on the treadmill of alternating work, family life, and visits to Leeds and the wonderful Candlelighters unit at St James’s Hospital (Jimmy’s), which deals with cancer in young people.
Four months after the initial diagnosis, Christopher had a bone marrow transplant after his older brother Greg proved to be a compatible donor.
Facing up to a life-threatening disease is a terrifying task but the Lounds were determined that they would not to be beaten. Christopher was told that when he recovered from his treatment there was a possibility that he would not be able to play competitive sport ever again. Now at the age of 15 Christopher has made a full recovery and has been playing both rugby and cricket for Hull RUFC and Hull Cricket Club. Last summer he played several First Team games for Hull Cricket Club, the highlight of which was being able to play in a league game at Headingley Cricket ground.
During the months that Christopher spent on the bone marrow unit at St James’s Hospital, Christopher and his family learned just how much of the NHS is funded by charity. Christopher’s state-of-the-art electronic bed, the machines that pumped the drugs around his body, the activity co-ordinator who kept him busy and in touch with the outside world, nursing and social support staff were all funded by the Candlelighters charity. Some of the children can be in isolation for several months and need lots of support, encouragement and activities to help them cope and adjust to their unnatural environment.
Christopher’s family decided that they would like to do something to help other families who find themselves in a similar situation. They wanted to raise much needed funds to be put towards the installation of interactive technology and equipment for the children’s bone marrow transplant unit. A charity ball was held at Hull Rugby Union Football club and together with other donations, they raised £5,735.
The bone marrow unit, which at the time of Christopher’s transplant catered for both adults and children, will be a children’s and teenager’s only unit at Leeds General Infirmary. Candlelighters will be supporting the cost of equipping the new unit as part of its Big Move Appeal.
Christopher said: "Most children never have to think about the sort of things I have had to face and I hope they never do. But if they do, I hope they have family and friends like mine and an organisation such as Candlelighters to help and support them as they all supported me.”
Photo: Greg and Christopher Lound (left-right)
Candlelighters receives generous donation from world-class caddy (29/1/2010)
Candlelighters would like to extend heartfelt thanks once again to Billy Foster for his incredibly generous donation of £35,000 last month - the biggest single donation received in the last three months.
Billy Foster is the world-class caddy of professional golfer Lee Westwood. He first heard about Candlelighters at an event at Keighley Golf Club, at which we were the club captain’s charity of the year.
To raise the funds, Billy walked 88 miles from Loch Lomond to Turnberry in July last year, garnering support and sponsorship from fellow caddies, golfers, friends and family.
The overall money he raised was split between Candlelighters and breast cancer charities affiliated to golfer Darren Clarke.
Pictured above, left to right: Medical trustee Dr Geoff Shenton, Billy Foster, Medical Trustee Sally Kinsey and Parent Trustee Roger Stocker.