Salford-based charity Kidscan’s virtual fundraising event Reindeer Rush is making a come-back.
Participants in teams must walk, run or jog 1,300 miles – the equivalent of getting from Manchester to Lapland.
The charity raised over £11,000 last year and are hoping it will be as successful, if not more than last year.
Alison England, Fundraising Manager at Kidscan Children’s Cancer Research said: “We were blown away with the support we received [last year].”
“All the reindeers are stuck in Manchester, and they have to get back to Lapland back in time to take Father Christmas to deliver presenters on Christmas Eve”.
The event is starting on 1st December and ending on 17th December.
England says: “Anyone can join. Its an easy and nice thing to do before Christmas and the most important thing is raising money for Kidscan.”
Emma Neal, Ambassador at Kidscan told me: “[last year] We went on a lot of walks at the weekends, we took lots of photos too from what I can remember.”
Her farther, Pete said: “It was a good opportunity to raise awareness.”
Emma was diagnosed with Pilocytic Astrocytoma on her Hypothalamus at age 15 months. Unfortunately, the tumour caused her to loose her sight in her right eye.
She became an ambassador at Kidscan in 2018: “I was invited to a photoshoot, and it was a really nice opportunity to go out and meet new people – everything was quite new, and it was an experience we could all relate to. It’s been a great opportunity to express what happens and how it makes you feel.”
Emma and her family are dedicated to raising awareness of Kidscan and the effects of children’s cancer and the treatments used.
Kidscan is all about stopping the side effects children are getting when receiving adult chemotherapy.
England told me: “Yes it’s curing the cancer, but its also damaging all of the good cells in the child’s body. They might have had chemotherapy at age 3 but by the time they are 30 they may die of heart failure.”
The treatments they are receiving affect them later in life, causing side effects such as: infertility, heart problems, brain damage and hearing loss.
“Our research projects are about looking at the treatments that are avalible now and how we can alter them to make them safer to administer to a child, so the child can go on to survive and thrive into their adult life.
“Not have long lasting and life limiting side effects – 60% of children who survive have these side effects.” England says.
Pete said: “Knowing that there is work being done, not only to make treatments more effective but also more efficient is great.”
England tells me: “There will be prizes for those that get the furthest and those that raise the most money.”
All of the money raised at the Reindeer Rush will go into further research into children’s cancer research.
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