In December 2022, 11 year old Thomas Macmillan was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia of the T-Cells. Life at the Macmillan household was changed forever in an instant.

Treatment of this horrible form of cancer, which afflicts the white blood cells, is intensive and starts immediately. That treatment is intensive chemotherapy, and it is tough. Thomas has been taking these powerful and aggressive drugs according to a strict programme. While doing their thing, attacking the cancer, the drugs take a heavy toll on the body. Accompanying doses of steroids present even more challenges. Thomas and his family fight relentless battles against the side effects of the treatment.

Fortunately, they are not doing this alone. The clinical treatment is delivered and managed by the amazing team of the Children’s Play Service in Oncology and Haematology wards L31 and L32 at Leeds General Infirmary. Natalie and her team look after Thomas and his family with warmth, understanding, reassurance, and humour. When children are ill, they have different needs from adults; medical treatment of the illness must be delivered in a particular way, using play. Play provides grounding, reassurance, familiarity, it breeds trust, reduces trauma, and helps accelerate recovery. The Play Services team are a vital point of contact and focal point for the whole family.

As with all public services decimated by years of ‘austerity’, Natalie and her team fight a continuous battle against a lack of funding; they are always under-resourced, always needing stuff to allow them to work their magic.

So, here is an opportunity to help Natalie and her team continue to do their amazing work, supporting and helping Thomas and family combat Leukaemia.

As co-owner of Cycle Heaven of York, Piers Maffett knows personally many of his customers, and has watched them grow and develop. Thomas and younger brother Pablo and their parents Victoria and Gavin are part of the Cycle Heaven extended family. This year 2023 Piers will be tackling the famous long distance French cycling event Paris-Brest-Paris, an event steeped in history and cycling folklore, running in one form or another since 1891, and held every 4 years. He has been preparing for this intensively for a long time. He aims to complete the 1200km (750 miles) within 80 hours of leaving at 4pm on Sunday 20th August.

Please consider donating to the important cause of helping children and their families deal with devastating illness. If you could spare some money to recognise Piers’ effort in Brittany, he guarantees that all of it (yes, 100%...) will go towards the wish list of projects and things that Natalie and her team need. There are many areas where the team could invest in their department: they could use technology to deliver care and recuperation; TVs, headphones, hand-held computing and virtual reality devices allow innovative and relatable ways to improve understanding and provide distraction; the team always needs art materials for drawing, painting and creating; toys and play equipment are always wearing out; there are always ways to improve the look and feel of the ward environment. The list is probably never-ending. The simple act of donation makes a difference.

Thanks very much for reading and supporting!

If you feel that you might be interested in following any of Piers’ thoughts on his journey leading up to the event, you should be able to find out more here .