Great to see, thanks for sharing Eddie.
Hey everyone,
I’m Adele a Fundraising Manager for Macmillan Cancer Support. I was the lady that called Eddie the other week to say thank you. I asked Eddie if he would mind if I could share a thank you wider on the forum penned by me, so here goes…..
Macmillan is a cancer charity that has been around for over 100 years, helping and supporting people emotionally, physically, financially and many other ways. I wanted to show you how your donations help, so I would like to share with you Sam’s story.
Sam from Leeds was just 28 when he received the news no one wants to hear, he had cancer. Before being diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma Sam remembers being in the shower and feeling a lump on his neck, his wife encouraged him to go to the GP, he told me:
“The lump seemed to appear out of nowhere, I wasn’t too worried I thought it would be a cyst or an allergic reaction.
“When I was diagnosed with cancer I was just thankful that the cancer I had was treatable.
“My life wasn’t going great at this point, I’d been diagnosed with cancer, lost my job and as my wife was studying, we’d lost our household income.
“It was the day after my diagnosis that I met my Macmillan nurse - she played a key role in keeping me sane during this time, she translated everything into information I could understand.
“I mentioned that two weeks prior to being diagnosed with cancer I had been made redundant, the Macmillan nurse helped me fill in some forms and within days I’d received a one off grant of £500 from Macmillan. That made so much difference.”
Macmillan support people like Sam with one off grants, these grants help towards the unexpected costs associated with cancer treatment, like increased heating bills because of the effects of chemo, new clothes as some people experience extreme weight loss or a new mattress if a person is suffering from incontinence. These are things people don’t expect and Macmillan are here to take that worry away at an already difficult time, Sam continues:
“Having cancer isn’t cheap, I couldn’t take the bus to appointments because of my lower immune system, and constantly paying for taxis was expensive.
“The money helped but the two months between starting treatment and finding out if it was working was my lowest point, my Macmillan nurses literally kept me sane when I was at my lowest, they were incredible.
“Macmillan support and reassurance meant the world to me.”
Within a month of finding the lump in his neck Sam was receiving chemotherapy treatment, within two months he was told that the treatment was working, and he was in remission from cancer.
I hear many stories like Sam’s, I feel so privileged to be working for an organisation that makes a difference to so many people in the darkest moments of their life, every single day.
Thankfully Sam has been in remission from cancer for three years, but we know many people continue to receive that life changing diagnosis every day.
There has never been a more terrifying time in recent history to receive a cancer diagnosis, with disruption and delays to treatment and fears of increased risk of becoming infected with coronavirus.
At Macmillan we’re facing a possible tsunami of demand coming towards us this autumn and winter, as the cancer system gets moving again and the backlog of delayed diagnoses begins to be dealt with. Worryingly this increased need for support would come at a time when our fundraised income has dropped significantly.
A huge 98% of Macmillan’s income is from donations, like the £32,940.62 raised on this forum and we want to thank everyone who has contributed to. It really does make a huge difference to people like Sam and many other families across the UK.
At Macmillan we’re facing the hardest year in our 109-year history. It’s no exaggeration to say Macmillan and people with cancer have never needed your generosity more than we do right now.
Take care & stay safe
Adele
xx
https://www.macmillan.org.uk/
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Brilliant result and a very nice message from Adele. Well done Eddie, you must be very proud.
Post of the year! Great to see Sam smiling.
Too work Mr P
Well done to everybody that has contributed - most of all to Eddie, that's some achievement!
That's wonderful.
A hugely worthwhile charity that I am proud that Eddie and the forum support.
Cheers,
Neil.
That's a lovely personal message, Macmillan are brilliant. Well done Eddie.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Bunging a few quid into the fundraiser doesn't mean much but messages like this make it worth while
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Excellent, thank you for sharing.
Amazing a watch forum can have such a positive side effect. Top community.
Brilliant effort from everyone involved ,i for one am extremely proud to be able to call people on the forum friends .
We may not always see eye to eye , but we all have those less fortunate then ourselves in our hearts .
Great to read this.
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Kudos to Eddie and all who contribute to the FR
What lovely feedback. Thank you for sharing Eddie.
Such an important charity to have helped. When I was ill, we would have struggled without the support of my wonderful Macmillan nurse. There is now a bequest in my will for them, and I make a monthly payment to them.
Super Eddie and stuff like this puts so much of life into perspective.
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
What a heart-warming and refreshing read that was Eddie - thanks for sharing, and thanks to Adele for penning/ telling the touching story of Sam.
As someone else said earlier, this has to be up there for “post of the year”.
Well done Eddie!
Very heartwarming, and great to see the effects that your initiative has achieved Eddie. It’s also nice to play a small part in a forum that has helped raise so much for good causes.
It's just a matter of time...