Last month we set ourselves the “10 Laps 10km” challenge for Childhood Cancer Awareness.
Now we have closed the GoFundMe and counted the charity buckets. We are delighted to announce we raised a grand total of €1419! We are over the moon with this sum, as 2020 required a very different kind of fundraiser than previous years.
Our three chosen charities: Children’s Health Foundation Crumlin (formerly CMRF), the Conor Foley Neuroblastoma Cancer Research Foundation, and Neuroblastoma UK, will each receive just over €470.
We’d like to say big thank you to everyone who donated. It will make a huge difference for these charities, this year especially, paving the way to better treatment options for children with cancer in the future.
The new norm, new challenges, new excitement and new achievements! We all proud to say that we completed 10K Vhi Womens Mini marathon socially distanced. Our paces were so different that distancing came absolutely natural. We ran it individually but were a team mentally. Even the capricious Irish weather was our ally. The Sun was bright. The air was fresh and crispy.
This was an individual challenge #POWEROF10: just you and the trail. 10 laps around St Stephen’s Green park were to make the target 10K in aid of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The celebration of life, therapeutical advancements, the strength of little patients battling their cancer and their families, doctors and carers who are supporting them in their journey. The emphasis on the gaps in available treatments and diagnosis and the importance of research that needs funding.
Personally, my 10K were split into two parts. The first 4K were full of arguments with my body. Why didn’t I like to do laps? Could I complete 10K? Was I fit to do it? Keep going! No walking – better slow jogging. Did one lap make 1K? Should I do a longer lap instead? And so on and so forth. Then, the second part kicked in. My body stopped arguing and began to enjoy it. I noticed beautiful Autumn colours on the trees, people walking around with a cup of coffee or chatting away, saw my team members overtaking me, and our volunteers counting our laps. People on the street and in the park were cheering us up. What a wonderful and fulfilling day!
As Catherine says: “The 10 Laps 10km challenge was tough! Like many people, I took up running casually during the lockdown, however, I never did more than a couple of kilometres at once, so I was absolutely not prepared for running 10. But the cheers from our socially distanced spectators and all the online support we received meant I got through it. Also knowing what a positive impact this challenge could have for the future of childhood cancer treatment provided plenty of motivation to finish the race 💛🎗”
10K by 6 team members socially distanced. #POWEROF10. Go Gold! Let’s reach 1.5k in donations!
Our Go Fund Me page is still open until this Sunday (October 11th midnight) if you wish to support us.
This year our research team will be taking part in the virtual VHI mini-marathon on the 7th of October 2020 in honour of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. For every one euro donated to research only 1 cent of this goes to ALL childhood health conditions including cancer. Therefore, the donations we receive will be split equally among some wonderful children’s charities. These charities include: The Conor Foley Neuroblastoma Research Foundation (CFNRF), Neuroblastoma UK (NBUK), Children’s Research & Medical Foundation (CRMF) CrumlinIf you would like to get involved in this amazing virtual event and help us raise vital funds for childhood cancers, attached is a link where you can register to the event: https://www.vhiwomensminimarathon.ie/power-of-10.
Our team is very appreciative of the support we get from these charities. We would be very grateful if you could help support our virtual marathon challenge by making a donation to these wonderful charities in light of childhood cancer awareness month.
Last year we managed to raise an amazing 1750 euro taking part in the 8km Hell and Back challenge. We are eager to surpass that target this year. All donations no matter how small are appreciated: https://www.gofundme.com/f/c7dkeu-childhood-cancer-awarness-month
Today marks the start of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Three girls fountain in Mainz Germany
I like this photo of a lovely fountain capturing 3 girls under umbrellas (Drei-Mädchen-Brunnen) in Ballplatz Mainz. It is about a happy childhood; every child deserves a happy childhood. So, I select it again to support #ChildhoodCancerAwarnessMonth.
Childhood cancer is an umbrella term for many other types of this disease. This month is a big channel to support and learn more about kids with cancer, their loving families, the doctors and caregivers who looking after them and treating them, the young survivors of cancer and those kids and teens who lost their battle, and the scientists who working hard to find a way to stop childhood cancer.
When it comes to a disease, we have to acknowledge that children are not little adults. They are constantly developing. So their diseases have a different way to progress and respond to treatment. This is very true for childhood cancers. For example, children diagnosed with neuroblastoma before a 1.5 years old mark will do better than older children.
Every 100th cancer patient is a child. Cancer is the 2nd most common cause of death among children after accidents. The most common types of childhood cancer are:
Leukaemia and lymphoma (blood cancers)
Brain and other central nervous system tumours
Muscle cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma)
Kidney cancer (Wilms tumour)
Neuroblastoma (tumour of the non-central nervous system)
Bone cancer (osteosarcoma)
Testicular and ovarian tumours (gonadal germ cell tumours)
It was the end of July when Ciara suggested doing ‘Hell and Back‘ for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. It sounded challenging and new for me so I supported this idea. We branded ourselves as #Lysis2Kill connecting to our biological background and crafted our very own T-shirts.
I was glad that I did not search for much about this challenge… I hoped that my current fitness level would suffice to complete it. Maybe coming even in the last wave…
It was on sunny Sunday. The day was fantastic. A few clouds in the sky. Many people came and did similar stuff – fundraising for the charity of their choice. Some did it for their own satisfaction or just for fun.
The atmosphere was buzzing. Throughout the challenge, people helped others they didn’t even know. Everyone cheered and smiled back. The team spirit was just fantastic.
#Lysis2Kill before the start of Hell and Back
We ran, crawled, climbed, walked & swam. There were moments when I prompted myself to think only about great and picturesque surroundings. We ended up battered and bruised. It was tough and our bodies were recovering for a good while after… However, saying that I loved every minute of it. It was an exceptional experience.
#Lysis2Kill completed the Hell&Back challenge dedicated to raising awareness to Childhood Cancer and Childhood Cancer Research Charities that work hard and dream big. Some of them are established and run by parents who lost their child to neuroblastoma. Thanks to our supporters, we raised 1.7K to support three wonderful charities.
YOUR SUPPORT helped us to cross the finish line!
We put together these funds and the Waffle Baking Morning money which gave as final 2.1K Euros. We equally divided the pot between Children’s Medical Research Foundation, Neuroblastoma UK and the Conor Foley Neuroblastoma Cancer Research Foundation.
Now, when my team has expanded, it is so easy to come up with fundraising ideas and then develop one in a well-rounded event. In February, we ran Hot Chocolate Morning to raise awareness in childhood cancer and celebrate the International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day. We have an entire month of September to make this disease visible. It was the first time for some of my team members.
“Last Friday, I got to take part in my first fundraising event at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Our team hosted a waffle morning for #childhoodcancerawarenessmonth and we are delighted to have raised €403.85 thanks to everyone’s generous donations! Our fundraising does not stop here, in just a few weeks time all 7 of us will be taking on the 8km Hell and Back challenge to raise more awareness and funds for our four chosen charities: CMRF Crumlin, Neuroblastoma UK, and the Conor Foley Neuroblastoma Cancer Research Foundation. We hope everyone enjoyed their little Friday treat!” Catherine Murphy, PhD student funded by Neuroblastoma UK
We celebrate Childhood Cancer Awareness Month every September. This is our chance to talk about this cancer, the patients and their families and what can be done to make a change.
Together with Prof Richard Arnett we asked a question – how intense is communication about neuroblastoma/childhood cancer on Twitter. There were 52126 neuroblastoma tweets in 69 days. Is it a big number?
#neuroblastoma on Twitter
Yellow dotes represent tweets. The intensity of yellow reflects the number of tweets per account. Many of them formed isolated communities with no connections. A few reach out. And this is very sad, it means that these communities do not interact with each other.
Communities have to come together then they will be heard. The Childhood Cancer Awareness months is a great opportunity to do it.
Across countries and continents, we are celebrating International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD).We do it to raise awareness tto raise awareness of childhood cancer, its consequences for children and their parents and make it as a priority for Governments and research.
My team research is focused on neuroblastoma biology. This is a solid tumour of undeveloped nerves. Some forms of neuroblastoma spread quickly and become very aggressive and challenging to treat. We are searching for the weaknesses that can be targeted with drugs.
A guessing game was a part of the event. Everyone had a chance to guess how many marshmallows fitted in the cell culture flask T75. The guesses ranged from as low as 95 to as high as 500. Fortunately, one of the participants gave an absolutely correct answer. Micheal Flood put on 173 and won. Her fantastic ability to guess is incredible! Congratulations!!! Well done to all!
We raised 698.91 Euros for childhood cancer research! We thank everyone who came along and supported the Hot Chocolate Morning & the International Childhood Cancer Day 2019!
Many special thanks go to Amorino for delicious Italian hot chocolate & tasty bites contributors!
International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD) was founded in 2002 by Childhood Cancer International (CCI). Each year on February 15th we unite together to recognise childhood cancer as a national and global child health priority & to raise support, funding and awareness of this devastating desiease.
This year we team up with Amorino to run Hot Chocolate Morning. Please come along! All proceeds go to CMRF/NCRC and CFNCRF.
Last year I have selected this photo of a lovely fountain capturing 3 girls under umbrellas (Drei-Mädchen-Brunnen) in Ballplatz Mainz in support of #ChildhoodCancerAwarnessMonth. This fountain was built between two Catholic girl’s schools symbolising the separate education and a happy childhood. It is charming on its own. And I’ve select it again.
Every child deserves a happy childhood. Raising awareness about childhood cancer we help to make the dreams of children with cancer come true. Dreams for a happy childhood, better treatment, better quality of life full of love ahead through better funding of childhood cancer research and access to innovative treatments.
