UPDATE SUNDAY 21/02/10:-  Vanessa left hospital today after her week in the ward receiving the first phase (of 5) of the new Immunotherapy treatment, she feels a whole lot better now! As the week progressed the pain from the treatment did subside in the main, however it reared its head in waves over the week. She sits here on the couch (watching Hannah Montana!) today feeling very tired but getting back to normal. Tomorrow she begins two weeks of her Retinoic Acid treatment which thankfully can be taken at home. Fundraising is going really well and again we are astounded at how generous everyone has been, keep passing on the message to your friends and colleagues and if you want to join me in the Marathon Challenge then let me (or someone that knows me) know and get on board. Many Thanks, Chris & Connie.

UPDATE TUESDAY 16/03/10:- Vanessa went back into hospital on Sunday to receive the next round of her new treatment (round 2). The Antibody and the Morphine went up early Monday morning and so far the pain has not been too bad, we hope this continues for the rest of the week. When I saw her tonight she was very tired with the Morphine but was all DVD'd out from watching telly all day, so thats a good sign. More to follow as the week progresses.

UPDATE TUESDAY 23/03/10:- Vanessa left hospital on Saturday (20th) after her second round of the Antibody Treatment. Things went better this time round, the pain was not too bad and she has recovered much quicker, in fact she's back at school and as cheeky as ever! Retinoic Acid now for 2 weeks before having a week off from treatment and then back in for round 3.

UPDATE THURSDAY 15/04/10:- Vanessa is back in Yorkhill this week receiving round 3 of her Antibody Treatment. To date she is doing well, a bit of pain @ the begining of the week but as of today it seems to have eased. Only tommorow to go then hopefully out on Saturday, fingers x'd.

UPDATE TUESDAY 20/04/10:- Vanessa got out of hospital on Saturday, very tired, but feeling really well. She went back to school on Monday and then off to the Brownies on Mon night with her friends, hopefully this will be the way things go from now on.

UPDATE MONDAY 10/05/10:- Vanessa went into hospital yesterday for round 4 of her Antibody Treatment. She went in in good spirits and her fist day went well, not huge amounts of pain when I visited this evening although she was very itchy which is a side effect of the Morphine she is given, so plenty of Piritin to help this, more to follow as the week progresses.

UPDATE MONDAY 17/05/10:- Vanessa got out of hospital on Saturday after her week of treatment. She managed well with only a few hours of pain over the week, what a wee star! A couple of weeks of Retinoic Acid now, then a week off before going back in for her last round of treatment, nearing the end now which we are all delighted with and looking forward to.

UPDATE TUESDAY 08/06/10:- Vanessa went into hospital on Sunday for the final week of her Antibody Therapy, so far things seem to be going well. She was very tired yesterday as seems to be the norm on the first day but was in good spirits today. More to follow as the week progresses.

UPDATE MONDAY 14/06/10:- Vanessa is still in the hospital, she should have got out on Saturday but unfortunately she had a high temperature and was feeling pretty poorly. It seems she has picked up "Chicken Pox". Bit of a blow, however she is feeling better now but still has a few spots. Hopefully if all goes well she will get out on Wednesday, fingers crossed.

UPDATE FRIDAY 18/06/10:- Vanessa got out of hospital on Wednesday afternoon, feeling much better but very tired. It was confirmed by the Doctors that she had Chicken Pox. That was her last round of the Antibody treatment so no more weekly stays in the hospital for Vanessa or any of us (hopefully!). Next thing is the process of getting scans and then to get her Hickman Line removed, no firm date for these as yet.

UPDATE 30/06/10:- Vanessa went into hospital yesterday to have her Hickman Line removed. Her line has been in since Feb 2009 so quite a big thing for her to have this removed. It was taken out just after lunch in an operation which lasted only about 20 mins, a breeze of an op for her after what she has been through. It has left her with some soreness around the wound but this will heal in time. She can now go swimming which she is looking forward to and it's less of a worry to take her away over weekends, bit more freedom back then!

Connie and I met with Vanessa's consultant on Thursday 26/08/10 and he told us that she is now in "Complete Remission", this is the best news we have ever had! She will have many years of tests & scans ahead and obviously we hope things remain this way, but for now we are delighted and are spending the time enjoying this great news.

23/10/09:- Thought I'd give an update on Vanessa's progress as it's been some time since I have. Vanessa is doing well, putting on some weight and feeling great. She was @ Yorkhill yesterday to see her consultant and everything seems fine. She is due to go into hospital near the end of October to have more scans and tests so we hope all goes well here, but for now all is well.  

FUNDRAISING, SPONSOR & TRAINING UPDATE:-

23/10/09 - Connie and I are astounded at the generosity of everyone who has donated; the figure above is a fantastic sum of money and will go a long way into research of this disease, A VERY MANY THANKS TO ALL

1. Oggy, Calum Watson, myself and some other members of the Marathon Team ran the Troon Tortoises 10k Race on Wednesday 05th May, our first organised race this season. Everyone did well and some of us "Old Boy's" posted some good times; 54-58mins. Chris Lorrimer, one of our TA colleagues and "Fit Guru" managed a cracking time of 39mins!! so some of us have a bit of catching up to do. Well done Chris, keep on running.

2. The Ayshire Yeomanry Squadron, the TA unit I am with has given a £500.00 donation to the charity (placed on my page as an offline donation). Many thanks to the Sqn for this and in particular our PSAO.

3. Oggy and I have been talking to Gerry McGinlay from ACS Cycles in Prestwick (Pedals Bike Shop @ Prestwick Cross), he has very generously agreed to give us all the kit and equipment we require for our 4 man team entering into the Relentless 24 Mountain Bike Challenge. The team are very grateful to him for this.

4. Q-Park have given a £250.00 donation to the charity (placed on my page as an offline donation). Many thanks goes to Steven Nicholl of Q-Park and his family for nominating the charity.

5. The staff and pupils from Vanessa's school, Struthers Primary, had a fun day at the end of term and raised a whopping £865.00! Many thanks goes to all concerned for this fantastic donation (Placed on my page as an offline donation)

6. The Marathon Team ran the big race yesterday (03/10/10), all who took part finished the race. Some good times were posted by the lads, 3hrs 30min (Ryan Lorimer) 3hrs 48min (Chris Lorimer) with most of the lads coming in just behind these whipetts! A good day was had by all and the lads are really keen to attempt another next year !!! So this weekend coming, its back up north for the Mountain Biking team to take part in the Relentless 24, yipee!! A&E Here we come!

7. The Relentless 24 Mountain Bike Team took part in the race yesterday (11/10/10), the event proved to be a pretty tough challenge for all the lads, tougher than we expected to be fair, but as expected, all who took part completed the challenge and enjoyed the experience. The 1:5 hill climbs on the course were really enjoyable !! and as for the getting up at 0300hrs to get your cold, wet kit back on to get on the bike and ride like hell for an hour or so, well what can I say, it was tremendous ! so tremendous in fact that we all might do it again next year; watch this space.

8. Alec Gemmel, a friend and colleague of mine from The Ayrshire Yeomanry walked the West Highland Way & The Great Glen for charity in June , he raised a massive £2,420.00 (+ Gift Aid which brings the total to over £3k, placed as an offline donation) and donated all of the money to The JACK Foundation, the man is a STAR! and I would like to thank him very much for his efforts. Have a look @ his story on http://www.maybole.org/news/index.htm#cheque 

9. The Old Commrades Association of The Ayrshire Yeomanry had a function earlier this year and raised the princely sum of £300.00 (placed as an offline donation). Many thanks goes to all members of the association for this very generous donation.

10. Rainbow Events held a charity dance for J-A-C-K in August 2010. Connie, Olivia, Vanessa and I and all our friends who were there had a fantastic time. The evening was a massive success and raised £7,778.61 in total (placed as an offline donation). This is an astounding amount of money and a great thanks goes to all who made this happen. Billy Murphy from Rainbow Events and all his team have surpassed even their own expectations here I think! and are to be congratulated on their hard work and determination.                               

In Feb 2009 our then 8 yr old daughter Vanessa was diagnosed with Stage 4 (High-Risk) Neuroblastoma, a very rare, agressive and difficult to treat form of childhood cancer; fewer than 100 children in the UK are diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year.

Since Feb, Vanessa has undergone many different treatments at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow, these include; 12 rounds of Chemotherapy, 2 surgical operations, a stem cell transplant and Radiotherapy. She is currently undergoing Retinoic Acid treatment and about to start a new treatment called Immunotherapy. This new treatment was only introduced in January 2010 and is so revolutionary that Vanessa will be the first child in Scotland to receive this treatment. Both Connie and I are delighted to be part of this new trial and hope to have all Vanessa's treatment completed by July of this year.

Having undergone all this difficult and sometimes very painful treatment the fact remains that due to a high relapse rate the long term prognossis for Vanessa's survival remains poor with less than a 40% survival rate.

There is currently no official UK Government funding into this viscious disease due to the very low number of children who are diagnosed each year, so in order to fund research into finding a cure, the medical profession rely totaly on funds which have been raised by individual members of the public

Please help us to fundraise for research into Neuroblastoma

When Vanessa was diagnosed in Feb 09 I took some time out from my Territorial Army commitments with the Ayrshire Yeomanry Squadron to deal with the situation; I returned to service with the Yeomanry early in 2010 and was approached by my good friend Rab (Oggy) who said that the Squadron was very keen to help fundraise for the cause. Both Connie & I are delighted with this and between Oggy and myself we have chosen to run the Loch Ness Marathon and take part in the Relentless 24, a 24hr Mountain Bike Race based in Fort William. Many members of the Squadron have decided to join us in support in both the run and the Mountain Bike Challenge and the Squadron will be supplying us with support such as transport, and a chef etc for these events. We are currently pounding the streets in our quest to get fit and get ready for both these events.

By donating you will be helping clinical researchers find a cure for this disease, subsequently raising the low percentage survival rate, every single penny counts folks, no matter how little.

Thanks for reading and donating and keep checking back for updates on how the training is going.

Chris & Connie Riddle

By donating through J-A-C-K foundation at 2simpletrust we are able to claim gift-aid.