Luke Hope started working for Apollo Swindon in July of 2018 as a young enthusiastic lad aged 17 who enjoyed football and socialising with his friends, as an Apprentice Luke understood that he would not be on great money as he started a career in the motor-trade so he kept his weekend job at Iceland so that he could afford to do the things he wanted and save for a better car, this to us showed a determination to work and succeed. He very quickly became part of the team here and was keen to fit in helping out wherever he was needed, without judging all of the younger generation to find a young lad with the personality that Luke has is very rare and he is a credit to his parents.

During October 2018 Luke started to complain of a pain in the top of his leg, this went on for a week until it became unbearable one night when he was in bed, his parents rushed him the A&E department of the local hospital where he was eventually seen and diagnosed as having “Pulled a muscle in his sleep”, He came into work the following day in agony with a hot water bottle held to his leg to help with the pain, he eventually went back to the doctors as the paint was getting worse and to cut a saga short was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia on the 31st October the day before his 18th Birthday, this is a cancer of the white blood cells that affects blood-producing cells in the bone-marrow. It happens when lymphoblast cells don’t mature properly, and grow too fast. The abnormal lymphoblasts (also called leukaemia cells) build up in your bone-marrow and eventually, there’s no room for normal blood cells to be made. The leukaemia cells may also spread to other parts of your body.

Since his diagnosis Luke has been in and out of hospital for a trial version of chemotherapy to cure his illness, this is administered via a lumber puncture, unfortunately he has to be taken from Swindon where he lives with his family to a hospital in Oxford for the treatment, his parents have taken as much time off work as possible to help get him through the initial chemotherapy and he is dependent on Grandparents and other family relations to transport him when his parents are not able to make it, his dad was working 3am until 12.00 driving home picking Luke up and then driving to Oxford, waiting for him to have his treatment and then taking him home for 7pm for weeks, this has obviously hit the family hard with fuel costs etc.

Luke is a very positive lad with a very helpful nature and he is greatly missed here at Apollo Swindon but unfortunately his treatment will keep him out of the business for a long time, we are confident that he will recover and return to complete his Apprenticeship at some point but it is a long, tough road for both him and his family.