Thanks Keith and ward sister janet

Sam had a great invitation (along with some other patients of E39) today.

He was invited to the National Hovercraft Championships at Holme Pierrepoint and had the chance to meet several celebrities and have a go in a hovercraft.

This was thanks to Keith and his colleagues and also sister Janet Ward Manager of Ward E39 at The Children's Hospital QMC Nottingham.

Amongst the famous was Carl Froch even tho' it was his son's first birthday....
so after a bit of a photo shoot...Sam is now rivalling the celebrities at this!!! ...it was time to have a go in the machine.

If Sam's face was anything to go by it was a fantastic experience!

There will be a collection over the weekend to raise funds for the Nottingham Hospitals Charity and E39 will benefit from this. So, if you are around the National Watersports Centre pop down and have a look enjoy the celebrity races on sunday and say hello to Janet who should be there around 4pm if not before. This is a National event so all the stars of hovercraft should be there too, it's speedy and exciting, so go along!! And support them and E39.

We spent a long time on E39 and the care is exceptional, all the staff are trained not just in nursing but also in neuro care, they are dedicated and loving and laugh more than you would ever imagine! And we always say hello on our outpatient visits cos they shared our life when things were desperate, worrying, funny and downright amazing! So the more money that is raised the more difference will be made to those who follow - both children and parents and it will help to make their stay on the ward more comfortable.

Here's Janet

Playleader Julie

                                                                                     and Carl

 The Celebrities and Sam!!

Carl, Sam and photographer

So go and support them on Sunday if you can

mimm

great excitement

Oh wow!! Great excitement Sam has been invited to take part in a conference on Rare Cancers in Brussels at the European Parliament! He will be "up there" and speaking about his experiences and difficulties....how fantastic  -  and how proud is this mum!

We shall be off next month, and have a night in Brussels too. This will be just such an experience for Sam and springs from the tour he conducted around the ward etc at QMC with Glenis Willmott the MEP, (there is earlier footage and blog of that event.)
Peter from jimmyteens.tv will also be there and the two of them have the last slot on the agenda so the delegates should leave with these two strong in their minds!

Tickets are booked and hotel reservation made....just have to brush up the speech!!

And finally just to let off a bit of excitement whoop whoop! Sam you are remarkable and a great ambassador/champion for The Childrens Brain Tumour Research Centre

mimm

kerrang!

Sam was invited to Kerrang! radio station last Tuesday, The Joseph Foote Trust (who raise funds for the cbtrc) have a two week radio campaign running soon to raise funds. Sam was asked to take part and record some of his experiences and hopefully encourage people to take a 1k challenge. This is to raise one thousand pounds for the Joseph Foote Trust who fund research programmes.

The aim is to raise £500,000 to fund research to crack the brain tumour DNA code and so eventually understand where brain tumours come from and how they become resistant to treatment. Enabling new treatments to be developed and so raising the survival rate.

The first step to sequence the Brain Tumour Genome will lead the way to all this by creating a wealth of information to lead the research plan forward.

So, as Sam has said 1K - OK - Go For It!!!

The Campaign will run at Kerrang! radio from Monday 27th June you can listen and watch online, so have a look and a listen and see if 1K is Ok for you!!

mimm

Headsmart day

Headsmart was launched on wednesday, we went down to London to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and felt very honoured to be invited.
The campaign for brain tumour awareness is run by a partnership between The Childrens' Brain Tumour Research Centre, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust.

The campaign is designed to help doctors and parents get access to the information needed to help identify brain tumours in children and young people. Quicker diagnosis can lead to better outcomes and a lessen disabilities.

All the information , leaflets , symptoms cards and a website are available for GPs and other healthcare settings. The campaign is being piloted in the East Midlands and distribution of all the resources is already underway.

There were a number of speakers at the event and jimmyteens.tv were there filming, I expect the footage will be on their web page soon.

Patrons of the SDBTT,  Earl Spencer and Hayley Mills, were also there giving their support.

You can go onto the website http://www.headsmart.org.uk/ and have a look at the  best practice guidelines, diagnostic aids, leaflets etc. I believe you can also order material online too.

We are all doing our bit to spread the word...you can help too and pass this information on- it may help someone you know, there are ten children and young people a week diagnosed with a brain tumour. It would be fantastic to help get that diagnosis speeded up and make a huge to difference to life and their future.

Sam with Hayley Mills

www.headsmart.org.uk

off to london tomorrow!

off to London tomorrow then....launch of HeadSmart I don't know if it will make the national news but it might be worth having a look and see! Also see how many of the faces you can recognise from the other clips shown on here.

We hit the first milestone last week too, have raised in excess of the first thousand pounds....not bad in the first 3 months and we have only had small events happening, well done everyone and thank you.

mimm

just an update on things....

Time is flying past! Wednesday Peter or should I say Pierre! and Debs came to see us for some filming, we had a great time and hopefully this will be a compelling film to watch when finished...don't worry will post it on the blog when it's time to view on Jimmy teens. We shall be meeting up again in London on Tuesday ....HeadSmart day.

Final figure for the amount raised at Shirt Sleeves last month is £345, thanks again to everyone who came along.

Next event will be in July with a wine tasting and Quiz at Ann et Vin, hoping for a good number of people there too.

We have more new people found the blog, in Columbia and Malaysia...keep on following!

Sam has a place sailing with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, he will be setting off at the end of August. Last years trip gave him so much confidence and was the first time he had been away from us since he was diagnosed....a great step forward and came back saying he had never laughed so much. It's a great challenge for all the young people who go, and as they all have or have had cancer they belong to a special group, their understanding of each other is immense and their sense of fun and adventure outweighs the difficulties they each face. So let's hope they all have as much fun this year, and a big thank you to Ellen.

mimm