Leukaemia research-Susan Eastwood. California Living

Leukaemia research-Susan Eastwood

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A TEESSIDE FAMILY'S GIFT TO THOUSANDS. There can be few things more soberingly unfair than a child born to die young, but when Susan Eastwood from Middlesbrough died aged 7, her parents chose to do something exceptional and have changed tens of thousands of lives in the process. SUSAN EASTWOOD got ill in the late 1950s, but the local community gathered around in support, even though, back then, most people had never heard of leukaemia. SUSANS FRIENDS gave her a music box, locals at the nearby pub had a whip round and bought her a dog Whiskey, when they learnt of her illness. IN 1960, Susan was due to open a local garden fete. Her parents had bought her a new dress, which she loved, but shortly beforehand, her health began to fail and she wasn't well enough to open the fete. Susan was buried in the clothes bought for the fete. HER SISTER SYLVIA was 19 when Susan died. She spoke to Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair's former special adviser and fundraising chairman of Leukaemia Research, for the BBC's Inside Out programme. She told how she remembers her brown eyes, how she was a "little giggly" girl who used to love going on the swing in the back garden and being pushed as high as she could go. The drugs made her face puff out and she'd get tired with all the treatment, she'd say "I think I will have a little sleep on my bed." Her parents would do anything to make her feel better, or be happy. They used to go on trips to the lake district and the seaside. Much of her time was spent playing with Whiskey the dog. AFTER SUSAN Susan's parents wanted something good to come out of their daughter's death and dedicated the rest of their lives to raising money for a cure. The family were constantly thinking of new ways to raise money. The music box bought by her friends was the first thing to be auctioned off. Sylvia and her mum working on their handkerchiefs. Hankerchiefs in a "peak formation" were all the rage for men to wear in the breast pockets of their suits at the time. Sylvia and her mum used to spend the evening stitching these to bits of card so they could look smart in suits. In one money raising venture her father dressed as a baby with a dummy in his mouth and was pushed around in a pram to get donations. They also sold Christmas cards before charity cards were commonplace. Their parents' aim was always to spend as little money as possible on administration, so the maximum amount could be put toward research, a rule that stills applies today at the fund. HOW THE FUND STARTED. The Eastwoods read an article in "The People" highlighting the importance of research into childhood diseases at Great Ormond Street Hospital. David and Hilda wrote to the Director of the Institute saying "If we can achieve something then we shall know that our daughter died for a reason." A year after Susan died, her parents had raised £3000 for the fund. On the 9th of December 1961 David and Hilda Eastwood attended the official opening of the first unit in the country dedicated to childhood leukaemia research at Great Ormond Street. THE WORK TODAY. As part of the Inside Out programme, Alistair Campbell met 10 year old Rachel Paul from Teesside, who has survived 2 bouts of leukaemia. Rachael Paul and her teddy, Belgium. Her mum Pamela's instinct that something wasn't quite right went back to when Rachel was 14 months old. She was diagnosed with leukaemia (AML) in 1999 and spent the following months receiving treatment in hospital. She then relapsed in November 2000. Doctors tried everything to get Rachel into remission again and she was having so much chemotherapy and radiotherapy that she had to be given growth hormones. Once in remission, a donor was found on the Anthony Nolan register. Pamela remembers the 70 ml of "pink liquid" - the bone marrow - that was injected into Rachel. She and her husband started off the syringe that put her back on the road to recovery. Rachel also received a teddy from the anonymous Belgian donor.

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Uploaded: February 25th, 2008 @ 8:48 pm
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