On 3rd March 2016 i received a phone call at work saying George had collapsed at playgroup and was being rushed to hospital. After admission to A&E it was quickly identified that George had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).

He was then transferred to ward E39 where he spent the next two weeks "on holiday" while having more tests done and a Chemotherapy treatment plan was arranged and implemented. After this he was sent home to continue his treatment under the supervision of the E39 Daycare Oncology. (As George is currently Neutrophenic if he gets a temperature above 38° he has to return to the ward for a few days to complete a course of antibiotics while he's tested).

George has been coping brilliantly with his Chemotherapy, it'll be a long road to recovery but our brave little trooper will fight this! Truth be told, he's been the strong one throughout the whole ordeal!

Being on the ward 24/7 with George during the first 2 weeks and visiting the E39 Daycare Oncology 3/4 times a week has opened mine and my wife's eyes to the fantastic work all of the staff on the ward do. They are there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week helping all from the 3 month old babies battling cancer and the other rare conditions to offering kind words of support and encouragement to the parents. I cannot put into words the great work they do as it's truly remarkable.

We cannot change the fact that George has been diagnosed with ALL, he's in the best place receiving the best care. What we can do however is to help and support the ward where these brave babies, toddlers, children and teenagers spend so much of their time for treatment and recovery, your donations will go towards buying toys for the play area, books, televisions for the bays, dvd players and dvd's, computers and games for them to play on, supplies for them to be creative (paint / glue / glitter / paper etc).

In short, the donations will directly impact on making any child who stays on the ward, or who has to be in for 6 hours for chemo treatment via the Daycare Oncology a more pleasurable one.

Thanks for taking the time to read the above. It's hard to put down in words but i want to do something to help as i feel so useless so figured raising money that would directly benefit the ward was the way to go.

Initially to start the ball rolling fundraising, I will be shaving my hair off in support of George and to normalise the fact he is losing his hair. Over the last few days each morning we've found hair on his pillow and understand it wont take too long until it goes completely.

Other events and ideas for fundraising are to be finalised but a couple of ideas i'm working on to raise money are:

1. A 24 hour, 300 mile cycle ride from Edinburgh to Nottingham !

2. An "Everesting" cycle ride. This is where you climb your bike up the same hill over and over and over and over until you reach the height of Mount Everest - 29,029 feet! (or that's 5 and a half miles straight up!). For example, If I were to ride up Great Dun Fell (the highest road in England) I would need to climb up and down the "hill" 15 times in order to hit the required elevation and would cover 140 miles in the process. It would in all likelihood take 18 hours to complete...

Just as a side to this, because of the ALL George has had numerous blood and platelet transfusions over the first 4 weeks. Thanks to each and everyone of you who donate blood and platelets. Without these selfless anonymous people George would in all likelihood not be here now. If you're not a donor, please consider it.

Thanks.