1:16pm Tuesday 15th June 2010
By Emma Clayton
As the curtain rises on an all-night fundraiser at Bradford Playhouse this weekend, candles will be flickering to celebrate the lives of children who have battled cancer.
Among those lighting candles will be Rachel Saul and Jane Walker, two mums who know the agony of having young children with leukaemia.
Without the support of Candlelighters, a charity which supports children being treated for cancer and funds research, therapists and equipment, they say their experiences in hospital would have been much less bearable.
Rachel’s seven-year-old daughter Emily and Jane’s son Robert, ten, are happy, active children, enjoying school and playing with their friends. But the brave youngsters have undergone gruelling treatment for life-threatening conditions. Jane and her family, from Birkenshaw, were on a seaside holiday in 2008 when Robert, then eight, started getting pains in his lower back. “We called an ambulance and he had blood tests,” says Jane. “When we were told it was leukaemia it was devastating and a total shock, but we knew we had to face whatever would get him through it. Something happens when you’re given news like that; you summon up strength and just get on with it. You have to.”
Robert underwent chemotherapy, then the family was told he needed a bone marrow transplant. “Without the transplant, he would have died,” says Jane. “Thankfully, his sister, Georgia, was a match so she was Robert’s donor. She was only six and it was a lot to go through – she coped amazingly. It was a huge relief to know she was a match.”
Robert had the transplant in August 2008, then spent six months on drugs, and was in isolation for much of the time. Now he’s on daily antibiotics, but is through the worst of his ordeal.
For Jane and husband Andrew, it has been a torturous two years watching their son endure intensive treatments.
It’s something Rachel, and her husband Chris, know all about. Rachel was grieving the death of her mother from cancer when the couple’s five-year-old daughter, Emily, was diagnosed with leukaemia. “It was October 2008. Emily woke up with bruises that weren’t there when she’d gone to bed,” recalls Rachel, from Gomersal. “We took her to the doctor, she had blood tests, then went to school. A few hours later we were told it was leukaemia – it all happened within one day. It was such a lot to take in.
“I rang Chris and we collected Emily from school. We tried to explain to her what was going on and even though she wasn’t yet six she understood. I’d lost my mum to cancer a few months earlier so Emily knew what cancer was.”
Like Robert, Emily was admitted to St James’s Hospital in Leeds and underwent an intensive six-month course of chemotherapy. Now seven, she has a small dose of maintenance chemotherapy each day, which will continue until Christmas. “It’s heartbreaking watching your child go through all the treatment,” says Rachel. “Seeing her in hospital with tubes coming out of her little arms, seeing her lose her lovely hair, was one of the hardest things to take. We’d have done anything to go through it all for her.”
Robert also lost his hair, due to chemotherapy. “I used to get stared at – it’s not nice when people do that. I’m glad it’s grown back now,” he says.
Both families are grateful for the support from Candlelighters in hospital. “They made the whole experience more bearable, for Robert and us,” says Jane. “They have a play room and do play therapy, they bring PlayStations and DVD players, trays of paints and baking equipment to children’s beds. Robert baked shortbread in bed one day – he loved it.
“He did some computer animation with a guy called Tom from Candlelighters. Robert really enjoyed working with him. You spend a lot of time with your child when they’re in hospital and sometimes they get fed up and want to see a different face.”
When normal life is turned upside-down, Candlelighters helps families cope.
“One parent always seems to be at the hospital, so home life is disrupted. We had Emily’s brother, Thomas, to think about and Candlelighters made sure he was included too,” says Rachel. “Unless you’re in that situation, you don’t realise what a fantastic job the charity does. Emily had a CT scan a few months after being diagnosed, because she was having headaches, and a play therapist was there with her, which we really appreciated.” On Friday night, Rachel and Jane will be joining other fundraisers for a 12-hour ‘Musicalathon’ at Bradford Playhouse, in aid of Candlelighters. Musical films, including Mamma Mia!, Moulin Rouge and Grease, will be screened from 8pm to 8am.
The event is being organised by Bradford company Approach PR. Managing director Suzanne Johns is a friend of Rachel and Jane and chose Candlelighters as the company’s adopted charity this year. “To know someone who has a child with leukaemia is unusual, but having two close friends in that situation made Candlelighters a natural choice,” says Suzanne. “It’s going to be a fun night for a fantastic cause. Seeing Emily and Robert looking so happy and full of life reminds us why we’re doing it.”
Candlelighters administrator Pauline Jolley says the charity aims to raise £500,000 to equip a new children’s cancer unit at Leeds General Infirmary, bringing facilities for patients in the region under one roof.
“We’re determined that facilities in the new unit will be at least as good as, and hopefully better, than the current facilities at Jimmy’s,” she says.
- The Musicalathon is at Bradford Playhouse, Little Germany, on Friday from 8pm to 8am. Tickets, priced £15, are available from digyorkshire.com or on (01274) 722552.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/trade_directory/