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This blog may look like a load of waffle but please take the time to read it.

I quickly glanced over the email from Children with Leukaemia with ‘Cycle from London to Paris!’ written all over it. I don’t cycle, haven’t been on a bike in years and associate cycling with the scar on my lip from when I fell off my bike – onto my face. ‘That’s far too out of my comfort zone, can’t be arsed really.’ I thought to myself. Then I thought again...

 500 children every year in the UK alone are diagnosed with Leukaemia.

500 children and their loved ones are told that they will not be going home, they will not be going to school and they will not be seeing their friends or siblings. They will be living in a hospital indefinitely.

500 children have a Hickman line (commonly known as a wiggly) inserted into their chest to administer chemotherapy, other medication and to give and take blood.

500 children have chemotherapy and possibly a bone marrow transplant both causing unpleasant side effects.  

500 children lose their hair.

100 children die every year from Leukaemia.  

To say that the bike ride is simply ‘out of my comfort zone’ seems a little pathetic now. A cancer patient and their loved one lose any sense of comfort from the word ‘diagnosed’.

My little sister Alexia was just one out of a hundred children who sadly lost their battle to Leukaemia. She lived in Birmingham Children’s Hospital for a year, undergoing a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy. Sadly she couldn’t be helped, but there are thousands of children out there who are still fighting and can be.

Alexia would be turning 18 this year but her life was cut short at five years old. If she had survived the ordeal I know that she would be running marathons and cycling distances to give other patients a chance of surviving; so I’m doing it for her.  

So here is my plea for sponsorship...

I’m a student and currently have no money, my overdraft is maxed out and my friends and I have resorted to digging deep into the bin for frozen pizza, cruelly failing to tell our flatmate that it doesn’t matter if the pizza is out of date if it’s frozen and to stop throwing it away. I know too well that five quid could buy you a couple of drinks, pay for a taxi into town or buy endless amounts of Sainsbury’s basics ketchup.

What you don’t know is how far that money can go towards children with leukaemia.

FIFTY YEARS AGO a diagnosis of Leukaemia was tantamount to a death sentence for a child. It was rapidly fatal in more than 95% of cases. Due to money raised through charities dedicated to treating and researching Leukaemia, four out of five children now survive. That seems worth more than ketchup or a night out to me.

That’s it, the end of my waffle.

One last word, I don’t like cycling and it’s going to hurt so please sponsor me and make it worthwhile! J

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Kind Regards,

Emillie

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