WHY I DO THIS

STACY SAXBY, EVENT ORGANISER

CHRISTOPHER READ

Born 1 August 1983.

Son of Dave and Mandy & Big brother to Stacy and Marc. Chris attended local Totton schools Calmore Infant & Calmore Junior school.

Chris had a love of building lego, and his go-kart which he would often make his sister push him around on.

Chris was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 1990.

He spent 2 months in the adult cancer ward at Southampton General Hospital as the Piam Brown ward was not quite complete. Chris was supported by a number of staff at Southampton during his treatment and time in the wards.

Chris sadly passed away on 9th April 1992 at 8 o’clock.

MY WHY..

After having my first child in November 2008 and experiencing post-natal depression, I decided I needed to seek some help, and started CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) which was a game changer!

During my CBT it transpired that I hadn’t really dealt with losing Christopher as I was only 6 when he passed.

With the birth of my firstborn & the complications undergone including many surgeries and hospital stays, and at such a young age and being so little, it was clear that not having processed what had happened to Chris had led to me having lots of worries and being scared of losing my own child.

SHOW ME THE MONEY..

I started my fundraising journey, back in 2013. The first event was an auction night/disco held in the local community.

It gave me a sense of control and made me feel as though I was somehow paying back & channelling the loss of Christopher into something positive, not negative!

I raised £2,900 for Cancer Research and Great Ormond Street Hospital. I was amazed by the encouragement and support I had received from loved ones and strangers…this made me realise I HAD to do more!

Pamper evenings, shopping nights, fashion shows, football matches and quiz nights followed and before I knew it, I was up to a total of £11,000 raised in 8 years of events!

WHERE IT ALL GOES..

The money raised goes towards so many things including:

Pizza nights
Day trips
Facilities for the parents to be able to stay with their child
Toys (such as lego which was Christopher’s favourite!)
Further research to enable doctors and scientists to help these young people with new treatments, drugs etc.

All these things can help make a child and their parent's time on the wards just a little easier its true when they say every little helps

WHATS NEXT..

I wanted to do a black tie ball a few years ago, but Covid-19 showed up and spoiled my plans! Finally, this is the year, and what a perfect time to do it!

We will be celebrating Christopher’s 40th birthday this year in August, so why not celebrate in style, get dressed up, and raise a tonne of money for the incredible ward that treated him?

This is purely and simply my reason for organizing my charity events, to pay back! To enable other children to still feel and play like children whilst receiving treatment, so they don’t have to mix in the adult wards as Christopher did.

Cancer is one of the biggest killers in children.

Christopher may not have won his fight, but I’d like to do something positive in his memory, and if that makes a sick child’s life a little bit happier or the parent's life a little easier, that's enough for me.

Stacy x