<div id="story" class="frp-message-body" style="height: auto;"> <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span><em><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dear all, </span></span></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Very recently our friends&nbsp;15 year old daughter was diagnosed with Hogkin Lymphoma&nbsp;and I am taking part in a shave-a-thon to help raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust by getting my head shaved completely bald! </span></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Her name is Francesca Sapio and her courage and attitude is making her parents and family exceptionaly proud and you can see why when you read her message below:-</span></span></em></p> <p><em></em></p> <span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dear family, friends and colleagues, </span></span></span></p> </span> <p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">As you now know 5 weeks ago I was taken ill and have subsequently been diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma, which is a cancer of the </span></span><a title="The lymphatic system" href="http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/LymphomaHodgkin/AboutHodgkinlymphoma/Thelymphaticsystem.aspx"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">lymphatic system</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">. It is sometimes called Hodgkin&rsquo;s disease. </span></span></span><a href="http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Childrenscancers/Typesofchildrenscancers/Hodgkinlymphoma.aspx"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Childrenscancers/Typesofchildrenscancers/Hodgkinlymphoma.aspx</span></span></span></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">2 weeks ago I started my treatment which is based around 6 cycles of Chemotherapy and will take a minimum of 6 months. In 6 weeks&rsquo; time I will undergo further assessments to see if I need Radiotherapy at the end of my current treatment. The major physical side effect to the Chemotherapy is Alopecia, which you may know as hair loss to the scalp. Over the last 2 days my hair has started to fall out and it is likely that within the next week, I will have lost all of my scalp.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">My auntie Amanda is planning to shave her head and has suggested to my Dad that he should join her in a bid to making things a little more bearable for me and possibly raising some money in the process. My uncles and my Nonno have also agreed to partake.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, the reason for this JustGiving page is to introduce you to the Shave-A-Thon. My family and I are trying to encourage as many people as possible to come and join us for a group &lsquo;head shaving&rsquo; garden party at our home in Harrow on Saturday, 21st May at 3pm. We are not going to press very hard for people to join in, as that would be unfair, but if you would like to partake that would be tremendous for the cause. However, if you&rsquo;d prefer not to, we would like to ask you to sponsor the cause with all proceeds going to the Teenage Cancer Trust: </span></span><a href="http://www.teenagecancertrust.org/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.teenagecancertrust.org/</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> We have set up this page JustGiving page, where you can make a donation, which would be greatly appreciated. Any amount of money would be great, but of course the more the better.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you would like to shave your hair, let us know (</span></span><a href="mailto:sapio.tct@hotmail.co.uk"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">sapio.tct@hotmail.co.uk</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">) and I will send you a sponsorship form to complete and hopefully you will be able to ask your friends and family to sponsor your efforts as part of my campaign. Once you have completed your fundraising, I would then ask you to transfer your &lsquo;pot&rsquo; into this main fund.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">All of the money that we will raise will be donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT): </span></span><a href="http://www.teenagecancertrust.org/what-we-do/specialist-services/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.teenagecancertrust.org/what-we-do/specialist-services/</span></span></span></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">Over the last 4 weeks I have been attending the University College Hospital London and the TCT have provided the young people there with tremendous support. I would therefore like to give something back. As a family we are all trying to raise as much money as possible to help those young people coming behind us with as much of this same great support as possible. The Teenage Cancer Trust have so far made me feel as normal as possible during this very difficult time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">We are aiming very high with our target fund set at &pound;7,500.00. I therefore hope you will find this a good charity to donate some of your money or indeed partake.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">I would like to thank you for your time in reading this page as well as to thank you in advance should you decide to donate to TCT or partake in the Shave-A-Thon</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">Best wishes</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">Francesca Sapio</span></span></span></p> </div> <p>Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.</p> <p>Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving &ndash; they&rsquo;ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they&rsquo;ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it&rsquo;s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.</p> <p>So please dig deep and donate now.</p>