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| Leukemia 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.
Tags : Inside Out Leukemia Research BBC Susan Eastwood |
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Affichage : 5438
Durée : 600 s |
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