November 2023

I have just finished 3 years of chemo. In that time I have raised almost £37,000 for the fabulous Teenage Cancer Trust charity.   My treatment may have ended, but my fundraising will continue! 

I have some huge plans for 2024 - so watch this space!

My lovely friend Fiona Blaney and her family are fundraising with me by sharing my story with friends and family who are coming together to celebrate  their birthdays at the weekend. Happy birthday and thank you! 

If you want to know more about my journey please see below x

2020

Welcome and thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I am Hamish.  I am 24 and I obviously like a challenge....as I am currently battling cancer for the second time in my life.

When I was seven I was diagnosed with a rare medulloblastoma brain tumour.  I was well looked after by the  wonderful Christie's and Pendlebury Children's Hospital and had surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.  It was a tough battle, but a battle won.  Whilst this left me with some extra challenges growing up, I have faced these head on and lived life to the full!  I even managed to get my dream job.

Whilst I had annual check ups, after 17 years it wasn't something I worried too much about.

In May 2020, I started to feel a little unwell - tired and under the weather.  My mum and I had been competing to see who would put the least weight on during lockdown and mum was perplexed to see my weight going down at the same speed hers was going up.

Eventually I had a blood test at my GPs and later the same day I got a call asking me to go to hospital straight away.  When my mum and I arrived, we were told I had leukaemia.

This was totally out of the blue.

We then didn't go home or see any family, friends or our dog, Dexter, for the next 6 weeks.

Not only was I facing Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), it was in the middle of a global pandemic.  This meant that once we got to Christie's, we were not allowed out of the room or to have any visitors.

I have just finished my second cycle of intensive chemo and have another 4 cycles left and then the plan is for 3 more years of maintenance chemo.

The treatment so far has been really tough.  As well as the usual side effects of losing more weight, losing my hair and generally feeling unwell, I have also had some bad reactions to medication and several infections which has resulted in several more admissions to hospital.

I have always tried to help others and have done some fundraising and volunteer work in the past as well as helping to launch Cancer Research's Shine Campaign and campaigned for Blood Donations.  This time I thought I would set myself a challenge to raise much-needed funds for a cause close to my heart - Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT).

We have been donating regularly after signing up at a TCT concert we went to a few years ago and, ironically, we were due to attend another TCT event earlier this year to see John Bishop which was unfortunately cancelled (thanks again COVID!)

Teenage Cancer Trust helps teenagers and young adults with cancer.  I have seen first-hand the work they do during my stays at Christie's.

Due to COVID all the usual social things the Young Oncology Unit (YOU) do to help young people has had to stop.  Usually patients have a lot more freedom and flexibility.  Friends and family can come and go and there are communal areas for patients to meet each other and chat.  There are a variety of activities on offer as well as TVs, DVDs, game consoles etc all aimed to help patients deal with their diagnosis, stay and treatment.

Sadly, at the moment none of this is possible and the isolation makes a difficult time even harder.

The Teenage Cancer Trust team have been working in difficult circumstances to stay in touch with me and other patients.  They organise online 'zoom' quizzes and catch ups and are doing their best to keep us occupied in a safe way.  

Having picked my charity, I then had to find something that was challenging but achievable whilst dealing with my chemo - but also something I could do safely in the midst of a pandemic whilst shielding at home!

So, for my first challenge I am going to attempt to build LEGO Old Trafford - all 3,898 pieces of it.  

I hope you will donate to help spur me on and help raise funds for a great cause.

As an added incentive to donate, my mum is doing her own mini challenge to try and lose the weight she has managed to acquire during lockdown and isolation.  She is blaming it on all the calorie-loaded meals she has been trying to tempt me with that she has ended up eating herself....

We will both do our best to complete our challenges and will keep you updated.

Update 18th October 2020 

Jill Howard has joined our fundraising effort.  Jill is an old school friend of my mums and is planning to do a 30k cross country run....in DECEMBER.....and if we hit our £10k target before the run, she has promised to do it in fancy dress of my choice!

She is doing the Bury St Edmunds to Clare Festive Challenge on 12 December which is 30k (or 18 MILES!) which is a long way - especially for someone relatively new to running!  Jill said:

"I started running in Jan '19 and got to 5K in 3 months before being grounded due to illness.  I started back running in Jan '20 running once a week with Newmarket joggers, building up to 5K twice a week with work colleagues.  During lockdown I joined Newmarket Joggers bubble running cross country 5-10k twice a week.

Running 30k is going to be a huge jump and a tough challenge both mentally and physically and I am proud to be supporting Hamish in his own challenge to raise much-needed funds."

JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure.  Your details are safe with JustGiving and they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails.  Once you donate, they'll send your money direct to Teenage Cancer Trust.  So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.