Sarah’s REEM Team

  

Sarah’s REEM Team consisting of myself (Luke Kiernan), Mark Helsby, Leigh Clements, Paul Dean & Matt Compton will be running this year’s Nike Run To The Beat Half Marathon. The run is a 13.1 mile race around London starting and finishing at the o2 arena. None of us are marathon runners & we have never been involved in a long distance run since school! However we all aim to finish the run between 1.5 – 2 hours which will be a great achievement.

 

We are completing this challenge in memory of my beautiful wife Sarah who sadly passed away in February 2011. Sarah was only 26 years old when she was diagnosed with cancer & it came 6 weeks before our wedding. We were all shocked and devastated but Sarah was determined to get better and we were all full of hope. She endured extensive treatment including Radio & Chemotherapy which began before our wedding and continued after, meaning we were never able to go on our honeymoon. However our Wedding day was perfect, everything we had wished for and more. Sarah looked absolutely stunning as she always did and I was made the luckiest man alive by becoming her husband. For that one day it seemed like everything had gone away and we both wished we could have stayed in that moment forever. Treatment finished at the end of the summer and Sarah was determined to get back to a normal life. She got a new job that she loved and things seemed to be getting better for us. A couple of months later our hopes were shattered when we found out the cancer had spread. Sarah went through further Radio & Chemotherapy to help treat the cancer but it was too aggressive & the doctors told us they could not treat Sarah any longer. Sarah spent the last weeks of her life at our home which we’d shared for the past 3 years.

 

Sarah was not only my wife but she was my best friend and I know she had many other friends who loved her dearly. We had 8 fantastic years together which I will cherish forever. I am so proud of how Sarah dealt with everything that was thrown at her. She went through a lot more than most people know and not just the above, but she always kept strong and never gave up. Even through all the knock backs it wasn’t in her nature to go moaning about it all. She never once asked for sympathy and I think to go through all of that and dealing with it the way she did was incredible. Everyone that knew Sarah would say she was a Loving, Caring & Beautiful person who always put others first before herself. She generally just loved life and it’s so unfair she has been taken from us all.

 

We are raising money & awareness for The Teenage Cancer Trust which is a fantastic charity supporting teenagers & young adults with cancer. The word cancer is usually associated with older people; however it affects people of all ages and can be especially devastating when you are of a younger age. Sarah & I found there wasn’t much in the way of professional support or advice for people our age and we kind of felt alone and segregated. This is probably the last thing anybody needs when trying to deal with the most difficult time your life. I believe that The Teenage Cancer Trust aims to change this perception & I can see through their great work they will support teenagers, young adults & their families though a very difficult period.

 

The REEM team & I would very much appreciate your support & sponsorship for this great cause.

 

Why not follow us on Twitter @SarahsREEMteam.

 

Love, Luke x  

 

Teenage Cancer Trust

 

Teenage Cancer Trust aims to ensure that every young person with cancer and their family receive the best possible care and professional support throughout their cancer journey

 

At Teenage Cancer Trust, we understand that young people with cancer require specialist care. We know how damaging it is to take a young person away from their everyday life, their friends, their environment, their family – and put them in a cancer ward with small children or older people. Young people have a much better chance in their fight against cancer if they are treated by teenage cancer experts, in an environment tailored to their needs. So we’re working every day to make that happen.

           

We don’t believe that teenagers should have to stop being teenagers, just because they have cancer. So we fund and build specialist units for young people in NHS hospitals. Our units bring teenagers with cancer together with loads of new friends of their own age so they can support each other. Alongside all of this is a medical team of teenage cancer specialists who pool knowledge to create a body of expertise that’s second to none. They’re backed up by our Nurse Consultants who provide clinical care, develop research, deliver professional education and ensure that standards remain as high as possible. Teenage Cancer Trust units aren’t like ordinary cancer wards. Everything about them has been designed to give teenagers the very best chance of a positive outcome. We want every young person with cancer in this country to have that chance.

 

There’s never a good time to get cancer, but for a teenager the timing seems particularly cruel. Young people can get some of the most rare and aggressive forms of cancer. Their rapidly growing bodies work against them, enabling the cancer to grow faster. The emotional upheaval of adolescence can make a cancer diagnosis even harder to cope with.

 

Every day in the UK, six young people will have to face that diagnosis. This is a rising figure and there are already more young people than children with the disease. Yet because only 0.5% of all cancers occur in teenagers and young adults, they are often misdiagnosed initially. This decreases their chances of survival and can mean they are excluded from clinical trials.

 

Until the age of 16 a teenager is likely to be treated in a paediatric ward alongside children. After turning 16, the same teenager would end up in an adult ward with elderly patients. One minute life’s about music, clothes, computer games, college and hanging out with mates. The next minute life is on hold and they’re in a hospital ward with no-one their age and feeling very isolated. It is important for young people’s physical health and psychological well-being that they be treated in a specialist facility that is built to meet their needs. It is also critical for their emotional well-being that they are treated in a comfortable environment where they have the opportunity to meet young people their age who they can relate to.

 

To read more on the trust please visit their website www.teenagecancertrust.org

 

Thank You,

Teenage Cancer Trust