Jenni Blyton
Zac's sponsored pogo stick jump for Kamran's Ward
Fundraising for Oxford Hospitals Charity
Story
This page has been set up on behalf of 7-year old Zac to raise money for the Oxford Hospitals Charity, particularly children on Kamran’s Ward - the paediatric haematology and oncology unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. This is where Zac spent most of the summer undergoing cancer treatment. Now in remission, he wants to help other children going through difficult times and gruelling treatment. Money raised will go towards making their stay in hospital more comfortable.
On 21st November Zac is going to pick up his pogo stick, and will bounce, boing and jump for 10 minutes every hour, on the hour, from 9am - 3pm. As well as seeing how many boings he can do over the day, he wants to beat his pre-illness record of 490 consecutive boings.
Thank you very much.
Zac’s story
We were in the middle of lockdown and to keep himself occupied 7-year old Zac taught himself to pogo stick. After a lot of practice, he reached 490 consecutive boings by the end of April. Then overnight things changed. From being a bundle of energy, he went to not eating, being very lethargic and suffering incredibly painful stomach cramps.
A trip to hospital in May resulted in x-Rays, ultrasounds and a CT scan. Hours later we were being transferred by ambulance in the middle of the night to the JR so he could be in theatre first thing for a biopsy and the insertion of a Hickman Line (this is a “wiggly” tube in the chest that makes getting medicine in and blood out easier).
A few days later the biopsy results showed Zac had Burkitt’s Lymphoma in his bowel. This is an aggressive cancer that needs to be treated in an aggressive way. This means long stays in hospital undergoing a brutal treatment regime, with gallons of chemotherapy drugs, countless lumbar punctures, and scans, tests and the odd blood transfusion along the way.
After 4 months, his treatment is over and he is now in remission. His treatment has left him with painful joints and he is tired, but it has not killed off his cheeky personality or stubbornness to see things through.
