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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 : 4754
Durée : 600 s |
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