Thank you for visiting the Team Alex page for Candlelighters. Our big event this year, starting on July 11th, is a coast to coast bike ride following the Way of the Roses route - over 160 miles in 3 days. For some it is over 20 years since they were last properly on a bike so we will be carrying a lot of vaseline!! Taking part will be Simon Clubbs, Neil Clubbs, Kennedy Chadwick, Chris Allcock, Jim Moulton, James Thornton and Martin Clubbs.

Please take a few moments to read my family's story and how Candlelighters help and support families like mine: 

It is now over 2 years since our world changed forever. Valentine's Day 2011. The day Alex, my younger son, was diagnosed with Acute Lyymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL).

A change we have had no choice but to adapt to and accept, never forgetting the most important aspect and the goal - to get Alex through this horrendous illness. To describe our journey as an emotional rollercoaster would be an understatement. You can be taken from a normal family day of work, school, bathtime, bedtime...........then very quickly be in the darkest of places, rushing to hospital, thinking, is this it for Alex???

I can pick too many days from the last 2 years that no parent or their child should experience. To have one occasion where your child has to be rushed to hospital, to not know what that journey holds or the thought of whether you'll be all coming home is one too many. There is daily chemo, monthly intravenous chemo, monthly steroids, a general anaesthetic with lumber puncture once every 3 months and a constant worry about the level of his blood counts - all of this is just 'normal' . That's before the really scary unscheduled trips to hospital. What was normal is now gone. It is impossible to plan anything with any certainty - holidays are something we'll have again one day, family weekends away..........one day.........neither of which, you realise, are that important, really.

The consultants, the doctors, the nurses and the play leaders on ward 31 and in clinic at the LGI are amazing, as is the fight, guts and bouncebackability of Alex.

Over the last 2 years Candlelighters have provided constant support for us (and families like ours) helping to make life 'normal'. www.candlelighters.org.uk Candlelighters aim is to provide a cure for childhood cancer. Research funded by Candlelighters contributes to national and international understanding of how cancers develop and behave. They provide funds to improve the facilities for children being treated at the unit in Leeds; to purchase the latest medical equipment; toys, books and games to make a child's time in hospital more bearable, play coordinators to organise activities to allow children to try and forget and simply be children. 

Please support Team Alex in 2013. Our charity events in 2013 are:

Coast to Coast - Morecambe to Bridlington July

Martin Clubbs, Simon Clubbs, Neil Clubbs, Kennedy Chadwick, Jim Moulton, Chris Allcock, James Thornton, Gary Clubbs (the driver)

Leeds Half Marathon - May - Martin

Edinburgh Marathon - May - Neil

The Great North Run - September - Martin and Neil

Please give generously and help Candlelighters to help children like Alex.

Below is the text from my Great North Run page in 2011, the start of our journey:

Valentine's Day will never be the same for us again. 14th February 2011 was the day Alex, my younger son, Neil's nephew, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). It is a day we will never forget, the day a nuclear bomb was dropped on our lives. This is something that happens to other people - so we thought. We were thrust into a totally alien environment of endless procedures, tests, medicine's and a whole new language of medical terminology.

Alex, a typical all action non stop 3 year old, was suddenly seriously ill in hospital. We could select any day of those days in the first few weeks and you would not want any child to experience that day's events, let alone have them repeated day after day. Alex's treatment will be long, at least 3 years (all being well). Already we have had many knocks and set backs but have learnt you take one day at a time and take it as you find it, especially enjoying the good days.

Throughout all of this we have been blessed by the support of family, good friends, work colleagues and had first class medical care at Leeds General Infirmary. We have seen the support many charities provide families and their children who have had their worlds turned upside down and inside out.

Candlelighters www.candlelighters.org.uk have been particularly prominent and have provided fantastic support. Their aim is to provide a cure for childhood cancer. Research funded by Candlelighters contributes to national and international knowledge and understanding of how cancer develops and behaves. They also provide funds to improve the facilities for children being treated at the unit in Leeds; to purchase the latest medical equipment; toys, books and games to make a child's time in hospital more pleasant - this allows children to try and forget and simply be children. The play coordinators, funded by Candlelighters, were invaluable in helping us get Alex engaged and interested in playing (again) during those fraught first few weeks. I cannot express enough how much Candlelighters helped to make this period as bearable as possible for us all.

Neil was already running the Great North Run for the 3rd time and had opted to run for Candlelighters. After a little pressure he persuaded me to join him, saying he was not worried about beating his personal best this year and would help me round - the cheek!! We decided to pool our efforts for Alex and Candlelighters, hoping to raise over £4,000. Anything you can give to help Neil and I towards this target, to help other children like Alex, will be gratefully received.