Deep breath, here goes; Some of you will be unaware of Charlie’s diagnosis of Retinoblastoma in October last year. It was a crazy time and we are fairly private people. I don’t think either of us had the reserves to respond to what would have been many, many kind and supportive messages so we just muddled on through without any public announcements or the like. We told our nearest and dearest at the time but it was a whirlwind and there will be some of you that will still be unaware. “By the way, Charlie had cancer” is fairly difficult conversation in itself once the corner is turned; I guess not keep going over it is a way of ‘moving on’ and so here we are.

When I say whirlwind, it really was. We had noticed a ‘cloud’ in Charlie’s right eye and at the opticians appointment we made, they suspected RB, a form of eye cancer only found in about 40-50 young children in the UK each year. Within 2 hours we were at A&E with an emergency referrral and awaiting an on-call consultant. The following day, we were back to the see the children’s eye specialist and the following Monday we were at Birmingham Children’s hospital for a general anaesthetic which gave an official diagnosis of stage 4 Retinoblastoma. It was clear by this stage that Charlie had no vision in that eye. On Friday, 19th October 2018, Charlie had his right eye removed and a prosthetic fitted. The time between the opticians appointment and his eye removal was 10 days. RB is time critical and this speedy response saves lives.

We have been lucky. Charlie’s RB is unilateral, remained within his eye and has no genetic markers. He lost his eye but it has saved his life. Charlie hasn’t changed one bit; far from it! He retains his nickname of ‘Kamikaze Keith’ and his comedy and timing will continue to be the stuff of legend I’m sure.

CHECT are based at BCH and the Royal London Hospital; the only 2 places in the country that treat RB. They are at every clinic. For some parents RB treatment is lengthy and they visit many, many times; for a number of treatments including chemo. The CHECT and BCH  staff are an amazing support and money raised supports them, their work, the information they produce for families and professionals and their campaigns raise awareness not only with the general public but with opticians and other professionals so that RB is caught and treated at it very earliest wherever possible.

Ash and I have run the Great North Run before; it is the subject of many epic tales (mostly losing each other as Ash fails to stand at the right letter at the end🙄😂) but we have never run for charity; This is for two reasons: 1. we won’t take a charity place just to get in a race. 2. We hate asking for anything 😂🤣

So for us, the fundraising is our biggest challenge and so here we are asking for your help and your money so that we can help others and repay in some small way the kindness and compassion of the many people, we have met along the way.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.