The Sam Pilcher Trust would like to Thank all involved from St James Church Chipping Campden, who very kindly donated their proceeds to the Trust. We would also like to say a huge Thank You to the very kind church goers who donated very generously to us, with even a promise of a sponsored trek to Vietnam next year.
Update on Terasa and Kirsty’s Goody Bag visit to Bristol Children’s Hospital
Terasa & Kirsty had a another very successful run up to Bristol Children’s Hospital with the Sam Pilcher Trust goody bags. They were very well received by the children, and put a lot of smiles on their faces, which makes it all the more worthwhile. Our Goody bags contain a Gift Voucher, Tiger Chocolate Bar, Small fluffy Tiger, a book and a toy. We hope to make another trip up to Bristol Children’s Hospital and also Gloucester Children’s Hospital very soon with some more Goody bags.
The Wolf Run 2014
Huge Thanks to all the guys that ran the 10k Wolf Run for us on 27th April. This was a very challenging assault course not for the faint hearted, they have all worked so hard and raised an absolutely incredible amount of money for SPT, we have all been overwhelmed by how much these guys have helped the Trust. So massive Thank you to everyone that was involved from MODE, MSPA, and SMOOTHAS. We will be updating with a total amount raised very shortly. Well done guys !!
Stratford Half Marathon
Everyone at SPT would like to say a Huge Thank you to Alice Neil ( daughter of Dr Dilys Neil, our Patron ), who kindly ran the Stratford Half Marathon for us on 27th April. She has raised an amazing amount of money for The Trust which is hugely appreciated . There will be an update very shortly on exactly how much was raised. Thank you Alice for such a fantastic achievement !! Well done
Goody Bags for Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital
Terasa and Kirsty are arranging to go back up to Bristol Children’s Hospital on Tuesday 21st with some more Goody Bags for the children. They will also be meeting up with Anna Shepherd from the Wallace and Gromit Appeal. Details to follow .
Chipping Campden Church
SPT would like to say a huge Thank You to all involved at Chipping Campden Church, who have very kindly offered to give SPT the proceeds of the Church service on Sunday 23rd March. Colin Max and Terasa will be there to give a presentation. Thank You to all involved !
News Update, on who SPT have been helping recently
Below is an update on an email SPT have just received from a Clic Sargent Social Worker called Anne who works at Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital. She contacted us recently to ask Sam’s Trust to help provide 10 year old Jack who had relapsed with Ewings Sarcoma ( a rare bone cancer ) for the third time and is now palliative. His mobility is very restricted and he is having to cope with a fair degree of pain. Both his parents are not able to work as are both caring for him 24/7 so finances are very limited and they wanted to get him a notebook so he can watch his favourite films, listen to music, be in touch with his friends etc. However , because of his fatigue , a notebook was lighter for him to manage rather than a laptop.
Sam’s Trust brought the Notebook Jack wanted and sent a cheque for £200 to his family to buy some shopping or something else they needed.
The Trust is receiving on average one request a week from Bristol and Gloucester Children’s Hospitals requesting help for children suffering from cancer. So far the Trust has never said NO and more importantly doesn’t ever want to. We want to be the charity that ‘Likes to say Yes ‘.
Thank you for all your continued support – we just wanted to share this story with you all because we think it hi lights the important work that the Trust is undertaking.
Below is an email we received from Anne, a Social Worker at Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital :
Dear Colin and Terasa,
I just wanted to let you and the Trustees know that I visited Jack ( the young man you recently gave a notebook too ) at the Hospice yesterday. He is very poorly now but is able to still enjoy watching his beloved Man U matches and the notebook allows him to stream his Sky TV from home and he can then attach the notebook to the big screen at the Hospice and watch all the matches, including last nights which was brilliant as Man U finally won. His parents wanted to Thank you so much for this as it means so much to him and them.
I wanted to ask if you can help get an IPAD for a young girl, who had a medulloblastoma brain tumour in 2010 and then a relapse in 2012. She has undergone chemo, surgery, radiotherapy, high dose chemo and a bone marrow treatment and her treatment finished the end of last year ( 2013 ).
As a result of her diagnosis and the above treatment she has been left with long term complications and has on-going cognitive, endocrine and neurological difficulties. Her speech is affected and she has skin problems and has substantial hearing loss requiring her to wear hearing aids. She continues to have regular follow up appointments and is under a variety of specialists and consultants, not just with Oncology.
She returned to her local Primary school but has a Statement of Educational Need and has multi agency involvement to ensure her needs are being met at school. However she is struggling to keep up with her peers as she has difficulties with handwriting and processing information despite having a 1:1 TA and needs lots of support at home with her homework. She would like an IPAD that she could use in school and at home to make all this easier for her.
Her mother has tried to access an IPAD through education but is finding it a long drawn out process because it wasn’t specified in her statement, and she still hasn’t been given a definitive answer and asked me for help in getting one for her daughter who just wants to try and keep up with her peers. Her mother hasn’t yet been able to return to work because of all the hospital appointments and needing to be around for her daughter as she is exhausted trying to keep up with going to school, so finances are limited as there are two other siblings.
Please let me know what other details you need from me if you are able to help.
Best Wishes Anne.
The Wolf Run Challenge
Sunday 27th April : The Wolf Run Challenge
Helen Walters and her Team will be taking part in The Wolf Run Challenge for The Sam Pilcher Trust. This is a 10 kilometre run with a difference. There are many obstacles to tackle from crossing over tyres, climbing over hay bales, and wading through lots of water and mud. So it is going to be a very messy challenge.
There will be a group of people taking part from ‘Mode ‘ MSPA’, and Helen from Smoothas.
The Wolf Run will be taking place on Sunday 27th April, if you would like to sponsor / Donate to this challenge , please click on our Justgiving page above.
The Sam Pilcher Trust would like to Thank everyone involved for supporting our Trust, and wish them all the very best of luck.
For any information on The Wolf Run please click on the following link: http://www.thewolfrun.com/info/
Just Giving
The Sam Pilcher Trust has now set up an online Just giving web page where you can sponsor any of our events that we hold, or if you would just like to Donate to the trust you can now do so by just clicking on the link below, or using our Just Giving page above.
Colin, Terasa & Max’s Visit to Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital. ( Full details of the visit below in the Winter News Letter )
Here is Max entering the new Ward 35 , the original ward was where Sam spent a large amount of his time during his treatment.
We were greeted by our dear friend Jackie, who was a great support to all of us while Sam was in the ward. Here she is holding a cuddly tiger we brought and which is now going to be a new mascot.
We went into the Activity Room and gave out the goody bags to the children. One of the lovely patients we met was Lydia. Lydia has been through an awful time having been diagnosed in July with a form of bone cancer. Osteosarcoma and had a tumour in her ankle, which has meant her leg had to be amputated. However, as can be seen by her photograph after being through all this she still looks beautiful and her strength and courage is something that is constantly in our minds since we met her and her brave mum. 
Here is Florence, Lydia’s sister with a Sam Pilcher Tiger
After we continued our tour and saw another room that is used for school activities, Sam’s painting is now proudly on display. Here is Max in front of the painting holding another Tiger. In the corner of this room are a collection of books that included the Art books that we took to the hospital on our last visit. Martyn said they may be looking a little dog eared but we are glad as it means they are being used and enjoyed and the Trust will only be too happy to buy new ones when necessary.
We next visited the Primary Oncology Ward where we met younger patients and the play specialist, Jeanette Sevier. She also looked after Sam while he was in hospital and helped to keep his spirits up with play activities, here she is holding some Goodie Bags and a mini tiger. After this we briefly went to the Day Care Unit, dropped in some more Goodie bags and met some Doctors we hadn’t seen for a long time. As the name indicates this unit is for children undergoing treatments and procedures that require a shorter visit.
Finally, our tour finished at the school room where we met some more Teachers from the Hospital School. This is a temporary school room as a new one is currently under construction. Martyn has invited us to visit when its completed.
Here we also met Anna Shepherd, Deputy director of the Wallace & Gromit Grand Appeal. The Appeal has many wonderful plans to help the hospital. Anna is going to send us a ‘ wish list ‘ for their current plans and we’re going to meet again in the New Year to discuss further.
We left the hospital glowing but absolutely shattered. However, Martyn sent us this lovely email, which confirms how worthwhile our visit was. It has also highlighted how much more there is for Sam Pilcher Trust to do.
Hi Colin / Terasa
Hope you enjoyed your visit here last week. I know that the patients enjoyed the afternoon very much.I was just going to say that I thought I would mention your charity at our Oncology meeting, I was going to point out to the social workers that you had an interest in supporting families as well as resources for the hospital.
I hope that this is okay as I was going to give out your email and it could be that you get call quite soon.
Martyn