Charity Helps Lite Up Nottingham Family’s Lives
By admin
Issued on behalf of The Joshua Foundation
WHEN Anna Johncock’s daughter Sarah was given the all clear from renal cancer at the age of 13, the family, from Wilford Village in Nottingham, thought they could finally start to look forward to the future.
Yet, just three years later, the single mum of four and her children were catapulted back to the life they hoped that they would never have to live again, when Anna’s youngest daughter Katy, 12, was diagnosed with leukemia.
Almost three years on Katy, now 14, remains under the watchful eye of the oncology unit at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham as she continues to undergo aggressive treatment.
In what has been a painful six years, one of the family’s biggest supports has been the help they have received from the UK charity The Joshua Foundation, which this week (Sunday 18 November) holds its inaugural Lite the Nite fundraising walk at Nottingham Castle.
Set up by Sarah Cornelius, from South Wales, when she lost her seven-year-old son Joshua to cancer in 1998, The Joshua Foundation now provides holidays and experiences for children with terminal cancer and their families across the UK.
The Johncock family were approached by The Joshua Foundation last March, and taken on an all-expenses- paid sightseeing trip to London, and later on a family holiday to the charity’s luxury apartment in Fishguard, West Wales, to offset the trauma of the girls’ treatment.
This Sunday’s Joshua Foundation Lite the Nite walk will raise money to help other families like the Johncocks, by providing memorable holidays and experiences they can enjoy and share together.
As part of Nottingham’s Lite the Nite event on Sunday, November 18, fundraisers will take part in a five-kilometre stroll around Nottingham Castle and the surrounding Museum Quarter area.
Starting and ending at Britain’s oldest pub, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, families and fundraisers will be hoping to help raise thousands of pounds for the charity.
Lite the Nite supporters will carry special illuminated balloons – red for those who have had, or known someone with cancer, or silver for supporters of the charity’s work.
Mum Anna said: “The support that the Joshua Foundation has given us has been a lifeline for our family. As a single mum of four teenagers you can’t cope with everything, so to have the kind of support that The Joshua Foundation offers is invaluable.
“The best part is that the charity takes the worry of organising things out of your hands and makes every member of the family feel special and involved. I am so very proud of all of my children’s bravery and maturity over the last few years, and thanks to The Joshua Foundation we have been able to enjoy our time together as a family.”
The idea for Lite the Nite came from Joshua’s love of balloons. Sarah Cornelius, who is originally from Nottingham but now lives in Cardiff, said: “The event has huge significance and is linked to Joshua in every way. He would always get a balloon wherever we went in the world, and loved letting them go and watching them float away.
“The whole idea of this event is that everyone in the family can get involved, a chance to get out with the family in the fresh air at an event that aims to entertain before, during and after the walk.”
