Finally the rearranged date you have all being waiting for! I was supposed to do this abseil last year (2022) however sadly Thomas was taken into hospital the day before and remained in hospital unwell for a short while. There really is no getting out of it this year... so on Saturday 13th May 2023 I will finally face my feat of heights and abseil the 80 metre / 262 foot heigh Arcelor Mittal Orbit in London, this time I will not be facing it alone! (Phew!) 

Please consider sponsoring me so I can not only smash the target and raise as much money as possible for Thomas Fight TALL - Special Named Fund with CCLG, but the more people who sponsor me and the more we raise... the more I have to do this! I will attempt to broadcast this LIVE on the day to Thomas Fight TALL Facebook Page and video it to be viewed after too! (https://www.facebook.com/ThomasFightTALL) (https://bio.link/thomasfighttall) 

Thank you for reading and hope that you can sponsor us! 

Gemma, Steve & Thomas xoxo 

Text from last year when I started this page: 

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am absolutely terrified of heights, and I mean petrified. Ever since I was unable to do the abseil back in high school on a school residential, its been something I have wanted to conquer for a long time. Now seems to be a fitting time to conquer my fears seen as how my son has fought something far more scary than heights, and not only just fought it but WON! Thomas received his Full Remission status on the 6th May 2022, so literally within a week of me doing this! So if Thomas can fight this for over 3 and a half years, and win then I am sure I can fight my own fears and at the same time raise the much needed funds that will hopefully someday change the entire outlook on Leukaemia once and for all. Until everyone who receives a diagnosis of Leukaemia is cured, then there will always be work to be done! 

For those of you who do not know the story, let me give you a brief outline, however if you look at the connected page to this or visit https://bio.link/thomasfighttall you can read more about Thomas's journey and see pictures. I am Thomas's mum and have raised him pretty much alone and with a disability and lots of health complaints which was difficult enough without throwing cancer into the equation. Thomas has always been my little helper in life and seeing him so poorly and helpless near destroyed me. Having this special named fund set up by CCLG in his name gave me something else to focus on where I was able to feel like I could make a difference, albeit a smaller one. Seeing Thomas go through his treatments and so fearlessly for over 3.5 years has been a mixture of emotions and the worst part of it all is not having the control over looking after your own child. Imagine having a child, but when he is poorly not being allowed to just give him some TLC, a bit of calpol and lots of love without having to strictly watch his temperature, phone the hospital for permission to give him anything to help, and infact when you can see he was getting poorly, but have to wait until the temperature became a fever before you could give him anything, to than have to race him to the hospital to have him whisked away from your care again... well let me tell you, it is soul destroying. As a mother your job is to protect your child, and do what you can to make them better... I truly felt for the past 3 and a half years that I couldn’t do this anymore. I am so truly grateful for the doctors and nurses at the Leeds General Infirmary as they literally saved Thomas's life that evening I took Thomas to the hospital with suspected Meningitis (11th Feb 2019) to be told early morning the day after that my child has cancer, and without treatment he has less than a week left to live. Within an hour he was hooked up to all kinds of machinery, and IV drugs etc and that care free little boy was quickly draining away into a shadow of his former self. I was totally helpless and couldn't even hug him for fear of causing him pain or catching one of the many wires or tubes. This was my only control, to raise as much as possible, and to do it along side of trying to educate parents, doctors such as the GP who for months prior to diagnosis was saying "It's just a viral". Fact is, very few people, doctors included know the signs of childhood cancer and leukaemia. 

To read the full story, please check the attached Special Named Fund page and see the bio.link as mentioned above. 

Please help me to raise as much as possible for this amazing and very worthwhile cause in my son, Thomas's name. I am hoping that I will be able to live broadcast the abseil on the day using a Go Pro and body harness to show you me, confronting my fear, no doubt absolutely pooping myself in the progress! Please help me make this something huge... and also, I can't actually back out if I have raised any money now... can I!!! 

Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart.

Much Love.

Gemma & Thomas 
#ThomasFightTALL