Coast to Coast Cycle Challenge for Carys'
Heather Seaton is raising money for LATCH Welsh Children's Cancer Charity
Participants: Heather Seaton, Richard Seaton, Simon Charman, Victoria Gwilliam, Dawn Whitfield, Elaine Vincent, Neville Vincent.
Story
Well as many of you will know in March our family received some devastating news, my two and a half year old niece was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Our gorgeous lively bundle of joy who was so full of life is now fighting a nasty tumour that's growing inside her!
had done so well at toilet training and was very good at asking for the potty when she needed it, but unfortunately in March my brother Andrew, and my sister-in-law Katie-Jo, noticed blood in her urine. After being treated with antibiotics, for a possible UTI, to no avail, they arranged for an ultra-sound, which revealed that she had a tumour filling the whole of her bladder. A biopsy confirmed that it was malignant.
From the minute we received that phone call Rich and I have spent weeks watching every member of our and Katie-Jo's family go through heartbreaking pain! Nobody wants to hear the word 'cancer' but when it is diagnosed in someone so young, who has their whole life ahead of them it makes the pain even harder to bear. is the most beautiful, adorable, strong-willed little character I have ever met, who is fighting this disease with such strength and passion that she is an inspiration to all of us. Within the first week of being diagnosed poor had undergone three general anaesthetics, biopsies, a bone density scan, an MRI and the insertion of a supra-pubic catheter. Her tiny little body had been through hell!
had gone from a happy two and a half year old running around, without a care in the world, to being confined to a hospital bed wired up to machines in the space of a week. Andrew and Katie-Jo were in pieces and yet had to stay strong for their little girl that was battling cancer and their other four year old daughter Seren who had no understanding of what was really going on. Although everyone kept telling her that Carys was very poorly and trying to explain why, in her mind, in the eyes of a four year old, Carys didn't look poorly before she had gone into hospital, and she couldn't understand why her little playmate had been taken away and why Mummy and Daddy were not at home every night, as they always had been!
has already had five lots of chemotherapy and has battled on through all the nasty side effects with such amazing strength and determination - its inspiring! She has been so sick and weak, with a loss of appetite and weight, her balance has been affected too but when she falls over she gets back up again. She has adapted to having permanent Hickman lines in her chest (her Wiggley's) and got use to life with a "lamp post" (as she calls it) her drip stand and carries her "bag of wee wee" around with pride!
Losing all her beautiful white blonde hair was very hard for everyone in the family to see, especially Seren, who cried and said "Mummy stick Carys' hair back on, I don't like it without it", but she has the most beautiful shaped head and her gorgeous big eyes shine above her cheeky smile, and despite everything that has been thrown at her, when you walk into her hospital room, she always brightens up the room with that adorable smile!
Anyone that knows Andrew and Katie-Jo, know what truly fantastic, amazing parents they are, dedicating all their time and energy into giving both their girls the best start in life, but the amazing strength that they have both shown as they've battled every obstacle that Carys' cancer has thrown at them on this emotional roller-coaster, which has turned their life upside down is absolutely astonishing. I know we are biased but Rich and I have never seen two people shed so many tears and still have the strength to make so many difficult decisions about Carys' future and the effects the surgery and radiotherapy will have on the rest of their lives as a family, whilst managing to keep a-round-the-clock vigil at Carys' bedside, devoting all their love and strength to keep her strong for the next tiny step forward. They truly are inspirational and I love them both so much and it hurts to see them go through all this pain.
Andrew and Katie-Jo have had such wonderful support from their families and friends. Both my parents and Katie-Jo's parents, and Katie's sister and family have been incredible, a tower of strength to Andrew and Katie. Alongside doing all the practical things, helping with the cooking, cleaning, hospital visiting and looking after Seren, endeavouring to keep her life as normal as humanly possible, they have been a huge shoulder to cry on whilst watching their grand-daughter go through the terrible physical pain and their own son and daughter battle through the emotional torture.
After receiving that devastating phone call and travelling immediately down to to spend the first few weeks by ' side, with all my family, trying so hard to stay strong and positive for everyone else. Work commitments meant we had to come back, put on a brave face and get on with life as normal, which was impossible! As most of my friends and work colleagues will know I have struggled to fight the tears and be strong, and struggled at being so far away from the rest of my family, and I have welcomed the support of my friends at Bishop, where I work, who have been fantastic, swapping shifts around, allowing Rich and I to make that 6 hour journey South to be with them at every opportunity we can.
Rich and I have spent many hours crying about how unfair it is that our families should have to go through this and agonised at watching all the people we love the most suffer, without being able to do anything to help. We wanted to put our energy into doing something useful, something that will raise money to help other children, like , in the future. The children's Oncology Department at does a fantastic job, the care and treatment that has received on Sky Ward has been exceptional.
The difficult decision for us was what we could do to raise the money. Rich could complete anything, if he set his mind to it but for me, with my rubbish under-performing lungs, whatever we did was going to be a challenge! And so we decided to cycle the coast to coast, the cycle path from one side of the country to the other! Cycling is something I can (just about) do, although I still get wheezy and in all fairness, when I say I can cycle, I have only ever attempted gentle rides, for a few miles not the 280 km that we have yet to complete during the last week in August, but the training has begun. Whether I can do it remains to be seen, as, as many of you know on a bad day I struggle to get up a flight of stairs without being completely out of puff, but I am very stubborn and will not give up unless I absolutely have to, and watching the incredible resilience of Carys fighting the cancer gives me the strength to fight my asthma and my lack of puff and complete this huge challenge and raise money for Carys and Sky Ward, through the LATCH childrens charity.
On making our plans we have some dear friends who want to be a part of it and are keen to help us raise money for too. Simon who we became very good friends with when we lived in Australia, and Dawn and Victoria who are our lovely friends that work as paramedics at Darlington, as well as Kendra, Jo, Lynsey, Wendy and Mardie who are all coming along to support us at the start and finish line! They have all helped Rich and I through the very sad times and are now going to put their legs to the test as well as give us the moral support to cycle across the country.
Carys, Seren, Andrew, Katie-Jo and our families still have the worst to go through as is being transferred to in August, where she will undergo surgery to remove the tumour. Unfortunately the Rhabdomyosarcoma tumour fills the whole of ' bladder and although we have prayed and prayed that they would be able to save some of her bladder. We got the devastating news a couple of weeks ago that they will have to remove all of her bladder and her urethra. Thankfully we can all be with her when she goes through the major surgery in . Following this she will have to have three more sessions of chemotherapy and possible radiotherapy, so the 280 km road ahead seems quite short in comparison to the one my family, especially Carys has to make so please please if anyone can donate any money, dig deep or take a sponsor form to schools or places of work and help us raise some money we would be extremely grateful.
For ...We love you xxxxxx Thank you for your support. Heather & Rich Seaton
had done so well at toilet training and was very good at asking for the potty when she needed it, but unfortunately in March my brother Andrew, and my sister-in-law Katie-Jo, noticed blood in her urine. After being treated with antibiotics, for a possible UTI, to no avail, they arranged for an ultra-sound, which revealed that she had a tumour filling the whole of her bladder. A biopsy confirmed that it was malignant.
From the minute we received that phone call Rich and I have spent weeks watching every member of our and Katie-Jo's family go through heartbreaking pain! Nobody wants to hear the word 'cancer' but when it is diagnosed in someone so young, who has their whole life ahead of them it makes the pain even harder to bear. is the most beautiful, adorable, strong-willed little character I have ever met, who is fighting this disease with such strength and passion that she is an inspiration to all of us. Within the first week of being diagnosed poor had undergone three general anaesthetics, biopsies, a bone density scan, an MRI and the insertion of a supra-pubic catheter. Her tiny little body had been through hell!
had gone from a happy two and a half year old running around, without a care in the world, to being confined to a hospital bed wired up to machines in the space of a week. Andrew and Katie-Jo were in pieces and yet had to stay strong for their little girl that was battling cancer and their other four year old daughter Seren who had no understanding of what was really going on. Although everyone kept telling her that Carys was very poorly and trying to explain why, in her mind, in the eyes of a four year old, Carys didn't look poorly before she had gone into hospital, and she couldn't understand why her little playmate had been taken away and why Mummy and Daddy were not at home every night, as they always had been!
has already had five lots of chemotherapy and has battled on through all the nasty side effects with such amazing strength and determination - its inspiring! She has been so sick and weak, with a loss of appetite and weight, her balance has been affected too but when she falls over she gets back up again. She has adapted to having permanent Hickman lines in her chest (her Wiggley's) and got use to life with a "lamp post" (as she calls it) her drip stand and carries her "bag of wee wee" around with pride!
Losing all her beautiful white blonde hair was very hard for everyone in the family to see, especially Seren, who cried and said "Mummy stick Carys' hair back on, I don't like it without it", but she has the most beautiful shaped head and her gorgeous big eyes shine above her cheeky smile, and despite everything that has been thrown at her, when you walk into her hospital room, she always brightens up the room with that adorable smile!
Anyone that knows Andrew and Katie-Jo, know what truly fantastic, amazing parents they are, dedicating all their time and energy into giving both their girls the best start in life, but the amazing strength that they have both shown as they've battled every obstacle that Carys' cancer has thrown at them on this emotional roller-coaster, which has turned their life upside down is absolutely astonishing. I know we are biased but Rich and I have never seen two people shed so many tears and still have the strength to make so many difficult decisions about Carys' future and the effects the surgery and radiotherapy will have on the rest of their lives as a family, whilst managing to keep a-round-the-clock vigil at Carys' bedside, devoting all their love and strength to keep her strong for the next tiny step forward. They truly are inspirational and I love them both so much and it hurts to see them go through all this pain.
Andrew and Katie-Jo have had such wonderful support from their families and friends. Both my parents and Katie-Jo's parents, and Katie's sister and family have been incredible, a tower of strength to Andrew and Katie. Alongside doing all the practical things, helping with the cooking, cleaning, hospital visiting and looking after Seren, endeavouring to keep her life as normal as humanly possible, they have been a huge shoulder to cry on whilst watching their grand-daughter go through the terrible physical pain and their own son and daughter battle through the emotional torture.
After receiving that devastating phone call and travelling immediately down to to spend the first few weeks by ' side, with all my family, trying so hard to stay strong and positive for everyone else. Work commitments meant we had to come back, put on a brave face and get on with life as normal, which was impossible! As most of my friends and work colleagues will know I have struggled to fight the tears and be strong, and struggled at being so far away from the rest of my family, and I have welcomed the support of my friends at Bishop, where I work, who have been fantastic, swapping shifts around, allowing Rich and I to make that 6 hour journey South to be with them at every opportunity we can.
Rich and I have spent many hours crying about how unfair it is that our families should have to go through this and agonised at watching all the people we love the most suffer, without being able to do anything to help. We wanted to put our energy into doing something useful, something that will raise money to help other children, like , in the future. The children's Oncology Department at does a fantastic job, the care and treatment that has received on Sky Ward has been exceptional.
The difficult decision for us was what we could do to raise the money. Rich could complete anything, if he set his mind to it but for me, with my rubbish under-performing lungs, whatever we did was going to be a challenge! And so we decided to cycle the coast to coast, the cycle path from one side of the country to the other! Cycling is something I can (just about) do, although I still get wheezy and in all fairness, when I say I can cycle, I have only ever attempted gentle rides, for a few miles not the 280 km that we have yet to complete during the last week in August, but the training has begun. Whether I can do it remains to be seen, as, as many of you know on a bad day I struggle to get up a flight of stairs without being completely out of puff, but I am very stubborn and will not give up unless I absolutely have to, and watching the incredible resilience of Carys fighting the cancer gives me the strength to fight my asthma and my lack of puff and complete this huge challenge and raise money for Carys and Sky Ward, through the LATCH childrens charity.
On making our plans we have some dear friends who want to be a part of it and are keen to help us raise money for too. Simon who we became very good friends with when we lived in Australia, and Dawn and Victoria who are our lovely friends that work as paramedics at Darlington, as well as Kendra, Jo, Lynsey, Wendy and Mardie who are all coming along to support us at the start and finish line! They have all helped Rich and I through the very sad times and are now going to put their legs to the test as well as give us the moral support to cycle across the country.
Carys, Seren, Andrew, Katie-Jo and our families still have the worst to go through as is being transferred to in August, where she will undergo surgery to remove the tumour. Unfortunately the Rhabdomyosarcoma tumour fills the whole of ' bladder and although we have prayed and prayed that they would be able to save some of her bladder. We got the devastating news a couple of weeks ago that they will have to remove all of her bladder and her urethra. Thankfully we can all be with her when she goes through the major surgery in . Following this she will have to have three more sessions of chemotherapy and possible radiotherapy, so the 280 km road ahead seems quite short in comparison to the one my family, especially Carys has to make so please please if anyone can donate any money, dig deep or take a sponsor form to schools or places of work and help us raise some money we would be extremely grateful.
For ...We love you xxxxxx Thank you for your support. Heather & Rich Seaton
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.