My Story

As most of you will already know, on 28th February this year, our world was turned upside down, when our beautiful boy Ollie was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. This was a massive shock, he hadn't been poorly as such - back pain, some fatigue & he was pale, so my wife Kirsty took him to the GP thinking he was anemic & that they would give us something to help. We were told to go straight to the children's ward at Warrington Hospital, who did bloods & rushed us straight to Alder Hey children's hospital. Ollie was diagnosed within hours of that trip to the GP & started treatment the same day! It's been a whirlwind & our poor boy has had to go through hell this past 4 months with countless theatre trips, blood & platelet transfusions, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Each with their own awful side affects, which have made him so poorly, to the point I've had to carry my 12 year old boy up the stairs as he has been too weak to get to bed. Ollies lost his precious hair, he's lost his confidence, his independence and he's missing school, sports and mates. We've all been thrown in to hell as a family. The unknown with this disease is what scares us all as his treatment is expected to last at least 25 months. From the very start we were told that a bone marrow transplant may end up being an option, we hope not, but we can never say never. It's so important to me to spread the word on bone marrow & stem cell donations as it saves lives & is so easy to do. This is where the great work of Anthony Nolan kicks in.

Anthony Nolan has always been close to my heart as prior to all of this personal stuff, I've been on the Anthony Nolan register for many years, & have been a match myself & donated stem cells to help someone live & get that second chance at life, so I know first hand just how important this brilliant charity is. For our Ollie & all of the other children / men / women who are fighting & in need. 

From day one of Ollie's diagnosis the support from so many people has been overwhelming, with numerous people also doing various fundraising events for various charities in Ollie's name. This is why I decided I needed to step up and help in any way I could. Running as many will know is not my thing and a marathon is not something I have ever imagined myself doing, it's massively out of my comfort zone to even think about doing. It's going to take me everything I've got to train & get myself in the right shape to do this, but if my precious boy & all of the other fighters out there can't spur me on, then what will?? 
please please donate if you can, any amount helps & watching the amount rising will definitely encourage me to keep going & achieve this massive challenge I'm facing! Thank you guys, much love!

A little bit about Anthony Nolan - Anthony Nolan is the pioneering charity that unites people and science to make lifesaving connections - matching stem cell donors to those in need of transplants and treatments and growing their world-leading stem cell register, so everyone can find the match they need.