As many of you know, every year we host a stretcher race, in memory of Pte Jeff ‘JJ’ Doherty. JJ was killed in Afghanistan in 2008, just two days after his 20th birthday. This year’s annual stretcher race will be on the 8th July 2017, and will again be run by the paratroopers, as well as other family and friends of JJ. We are hosting it for the second time at The Bowling Green; a great family pub in the heart of Southam.
#TeamBreya
In January 2017, 2 year old Breya Ward, the daughter of serving paratrooper Ollie Ward and Holly Robinson, was sadly diagnosed with Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma, (a very rare cancer that affects children under the age of 6). Breya’s aggressive disease has grown onto her adrenal gland, and gone on to consume the whole of her stomach, as well as spread to her bones and bone marrow all over her body.
Breya has started her treatment, which is a very intense type of Chemotherapy and will last over 18-20 months; currently, Breya’s tumour is inoperable. However, the aim Breya’s family is to have Breya cured by the 5 year point of starting Chemotherapy. Her proud Mum, Holly Robinson and her Dad, Ollie Ward, are by her side every day throughout her battle and have both put their lives and careers to one side to focus on their daughters fight for survival and to keep Breya smiling.
Devastatingly, 50% of stage 4 Neuroblastoma patients will relapse within 2 years. If this happens the UK, the NHS doesn’t currently have any treatments or pathways for curing this cruel disease. This means in the case of the cancer returning, the only option is taking Breya to the US for new trial therapies, which could save her life. This treatment would cost somewhere in the region of £250,000! Please see more information on the #teambreya Go Fund Me page: https://www.gofundme.com/teambreya
This year, ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE ANNUAL STRETCHER RACE WILL BE GOING TO BREYA’S TREATMENT.
What’s On?
After a really successful Family Fun Day last year, we have decided to do the same thing this year, with the day starting at 12.30pm. We will have stalls, a bouncy castle (for adults too), face-painting and a BBQ. There is still some availability if you would like to have a stall too, so contact us if you’re interested. The stretcher race will be at 5pm in the town as usual, and then we will head back to The Bowling Green, where there will be various drinks promotions, food, live music and a karaoke disco brought to us by Richard Mills and Bishops Sounds Disco. We are also doing a raffle this year, with some great prizes! Raffle tickets will be available to buy on the day at the JJ’s Memorial Fund merchandise stand.
Any donations for the raffle would be gratefully received – please contact us via email on: info@jjsmemorialfund.co.uk,
Or via our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/65809611710/
See You There!
We hope to see you there on Saturday, 8th July 2017, in what we hope will be another fantastic event!