We want to raise as much money as possible for the ONCOLOGY department. Please read our story.

“You were right to be worried; I think Joel has a brain tumour.”

13 words that changed our lives forever on Tuesday February 21 2012. Since that indelible date, our four year old son Joel has been diagnosed with a medulablastoma, level 4 cancer and undergone major brain surgery to remove a massive tumour. He is currently half way through a six week intensive course of radiotherapy and won’t finish his chemotherapy treatments until he is six years old. The treatment is gruelling and heart breaking but necessary to stand a chance of saving our son. We are eternally grateful to the fantastic neurosurgeon Mr Solanki, who was able to completely remove a "massive" tumour from a very difficult position within Joel's brain. Ward 10 nurses expertly cared for Joel before, during and after his surgery. We are now in the expert hands of the radiotherapy team and oncology department.

The amount of support Karen and I have received from our friends and family has been incredible and there is nothing we can do or say to show just how much we appreciate it.

But there is something we can do for those organisations that have helped save our little boy. Organisations like Birmingham Children’s Hospital. A centre of excellence that does an amazing job for all of our children.

Karen and I intend to organise a number of charity events over the coming months, in order to raise as much money as we can for the incredible people that have helped us since Joel was diagnosed. We have a lot of ideas forming, with plans to have a charity Golf day, a theatrical variety show and many more.

But the first thing we can do is right now!!!

Karen and Lloyd’s weight loss challenge begins TODAY. We need to be as fit and as healthy as we can be in order to look after our boys and that means losing 21 pounds for Karen and a mere 56 pounds for me. We will be posting our activities on a daily basis so you can keep track of what we are doing and any encouraging words would be great. We will be posting our weigh in results on a weekly basis and have linked our required weight loss to the dates of Joel’s treatments. In a nutshell Joel will be undergoing a series of eight six week cycles of chemotherapy. At the end of each cycle we intend to have lost a set amount of weight. This should keep us on track. Let’s be honest.. if Joel can make it through a gruelling chemotherapy cycle, then the least we can do is to look after ourselves and lose that weight!