LIVESTREAM LINK: https://youtu.be/eMzssDcRPig 

One in every 16 men (and one in every 22 women) will develop blood cancer at some point in their lives. Unfortunately our friend, Joel, is one of those. A cancer that can so easily be misdiagnosed and misunderstood.

So what better way to raise awareness than a 16 hour karaoke marathon?! We'll be ‘performing ‘ from 7am-11pm on Saturday 8th January 2022 and live streaming the entire event for you lucky people to enjoy, details on this to follow.

Donations entitle you to a song choice - please donate to see us destroy your favourite songs..!

We’re hoping to raise as much money and awareness as we can before, during and after the event, so anything you can do to help is hugely appreciated. 

We’ll also be joined by some special guests throughout, if you want to join - let us know. We shall be in Bishop’s Stortford.

Let’s have some fun, spread the positivity and say a big f*ck you to blood cancer! Alanna & Natalie x

Joel's story, as told by Amy

The love of my life, Joel (30), has been battling Leukaemia unknown to us for nearly two years. He was misdiagnosed with arthritis. Joel is an electrician and all his symptoms were blamed on having a very active job, the back and joint pain was always put down to his occupation. He grew very fatigued and that was put down to not being able to sleep from the pain. He was off his food and lost weight but there always appeared to be an answer for everything.  After countless GP appointments, calls to 111, multiple A&E visits and swapping GP surgeries, constantly challenging his diagnosis, we were finally given an MRI scan and blood tests for Joel.

Due to the pandemic delays we had to wait 4 long months for the MRI. On the day we were due to go and collect the results from the MRI scan I went into our bedroom to wake Joel, his lips were blue, he was in agony and we rushed him to A&E. On route to A&E his consultant rang us as we should have been at the appointment and told us on speakerphone ‘Joel has blood cancer.’ I will never, ever forget his face when those words were said.

We were waiting in A&E for 4 hours. Joel caught sepsis. Nearly died and was taken to intensive care.

In just 24 hours our world was turned upside down.

Defying the odds, Joel was out of sepsis and intensive care in just 2 days. We began our cancer journey, Joel was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

Joel has gone through his first round of chemotherapy and had a rare adverse reaction to a drug resulting in him developing pancreatitis and ending up in intensive care once more. He is now in remission and facing challenges outside of his cancer. One of these challenges being COVID-19, which Joel caught in hospital following everything else he’s recently been through. This resulted in 3 weeks of isolation on a secure ward, which was unimaginably hard for him. We are battling through the toughest of times as a family and Joel has been truly inspiring throughout, showing superhuman strength and levels of bravery.

I think it is beyond important for the symptoms of blood cancer to be promoted, for the symptoms to be more widely known and for more training provided on spotting blood cancer to health professionals. We were never thinking cancer, but perhaps if we had been more aware of how blood cancer presented itself we would have taken this to the GP and fought even harder for help. My lovely friends have decided to do a karaoke marathon in the hope to bring a smile to everyone’s face and raise some funds for a truly amazing cause!