Tag Archives: Christian’s Story

Check up at Royal Marsden & Michael Jackson

February 13, 2010 by Peter · Leave a comment

Christian had his regular (4 monthly) check up at the Royal Marsden last week. He has had a persistent cough since Christmas which was enough to worry us. Happily everything is fine and the chest X-Ray came up clear.

He took a DVD we made of him dancing to Michael Jackson and charmed all the doctors and nurses with it. The sad news is that Kathy Pritchard Jones who last looked after Christian from the beginning is moving to Great Ormind Street were I am sure she will continue to do great work. We have made an appointment with her in March to check Christian’s kidney function which was low last year, she will be leaving The Royal Marsden soon after. We have promised to give her a copy of Christian’s DVD as he wouldn’t part with the one he took.

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Baldist PR!

March 17, 2009 by Peter · Leave a comment

Christian and Claudia went to the launch of a new campaign at the Royal Marsden in Sutton yesterday. They asked to use one of our photos for the campaign, guess who they chose to take the mickey out of?

 

marsden1

Claudia was very excited to meet Dermot O’Leary and once Christian recognised him as the bloke who introduced Michael Jackson recently at the O2 even he was impressed. As they were saying goodbye, Christian tapped Dermot on the leg and whispered “What’s Michael Jackson like?”. Claudia was interviewed by the BBC and apparently has been on the news a lot today but we have missed it! Photos to follow but here is a link to the BBC website. Here is a link to Claudia’s interview.

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Good News

January 9, 2009 by Peter · Leave a comment

Christian has been complaining about leg pains for the last few weeks, mostly at the bottom of his right leg. This has obviously been worrying us as these were the symptoms when his cancer last relapsed to the bone. We told the Marsden about it at his review before Christmas and he was booked in for a bone scan today. Christian was incredibly brave, he had to have a cannular in a vein in his arm to give him a shot of radioactive material for the scan and blood tests. There were no tears or complaints and he laid perfectly still for nearly an hour for the bone scan. I think he enjoyed his recent celebrity status as all of the doctors and nurses commented on recognising him from the recent fund raising brochure for The Royal Marsden! Kathy Pritchard Jones, his doctor, was kind enough to stay late after work to check the scan and said that she was pretty confident it was all clear but would need final confirmation from a radiologist. She has just called us (8.00pm Friday) to tell us that she has got hold of a radiologist who agrees that everything is clear. He, obviously, still needs to go back for regular checks but for the moment life is good. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Peter Blandford's photo

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More Tests

March 21, 2008 by Peter · Leave a comment

Last week Christian had some tests at the Royal Marsden – a blood test, a bone scan and a chest x-ray. The good news is that all is still clear. We had been a bit worried as he had a really nasty bug earlier this month with a very high temperature, and an upset stomach, so it was a real relief when the results came back. Both Henry and Christian had their last day at Eaton House the Manor this week and are looking forward to starting at The New Beacon in Sevenoaks after Easter.

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Happy New Year

January 4, 2008 by Peter · Leave a comment

Claudia took Christian into the Marsden for his 3 monthly check up today. He had a chest x-ray, a leg x-ray, and an abdominal ultrasound. The chest and tummy are fine and we should get the result of the leg x-ray in a couple of days. The leg x-ray was done at the last moment, more as a marker than because there is any sign of a problem

Christian has been on good form recently, he is enjoying school and had a great Christmas.

I have recently heard from Sean Bonnington from St George’s with some good news, the details are here and here. We are obviously over the moon that the funds raised have been so effective and are very grateful for all of you who so kindly donated, ran, or in many cases, did both. If anybody is considering a sponsored event I would appreciate it if you would consider the Christian Blandford fund at St George’s as a beneficiary, please contact me for details.

By the way Christian goes to the Royal Marsden in Sutton, not the one in Chelsea which was so sadly damaged by fire this week.

Happy New Year!

Peter Blandford's photo

Peter Blandford’s photo

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Great news and new day at school

September 28, 2007 by Peter · Leave a comment

28th September 2007

Last week Christian had a bone scan and a CT scan and the results came back today, he is clear of cancer!

We’ve got a long way to go and he is still in danger from the treatment, his kidney function, for example, is still not what it should be, but we are obviously very relieved. There was a strange moment in the school car park when he started back at school. A whisper went around the crowds of parents and teachers when they saw Christian, and as he stood there looking confused, a round of applause went up from everybody around him.

Christian

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A Post from Claudia

July 30, 2007 by Claudia · Leave a comment

We have just returned from a glorious two weeks at Villa Begur!  After a rocky start with Christian not sleeping due to a bad cough I was pleased that we had taken some precautionary antibiotics with us and once they kicked in he was much better.  Then we ended up in the local hospitals A&E – nothing serious but a bit of a bummer nonetheless and very unfair on Christian.  However, after that all was perfect and we spent the rest of the holiday soaking up the sun (and wine!) and enjoying ourselves with the various different friends and family who came to join us.  Even leaving wasn’t too bad since we will be heading back to the villa in another 4 weeks for the last week of the school hols.  Pete has posted some photos from the holiday so you can see how the boys are growing – and how much hair Christian has now (and how little hair Pete has now!).

Christian with Abuelo

Both Peter and I wanted to thank some of you who really have done an amazing effort in the fundraising:

All of those who ran the 10km and raised money. There were some amazing achievements, Jo Winnick, for example, raised a staggering £5000 and ran the 10k in a very impressive time!

Monika Kurec who is an incredibly fit friend of mine.  She did some mad long (incredibly long!) bike ride in Cape Town South Africa and raised a HUGE amount of money for Christian’s fund.  Here is aan email that she sent upon completing it:

Well I made it! 4 hrs 4 mins (30 mins faster than expected!)

It was, by far, the most amazing experience of my life and I’m still on a high from it!

The 2 days before temperatures soared up to an incredible Autumnal 39 degrees C!! This just added to our list of things to worry about! eg.. What if my wheels fall off? Will I make it up those hills? When do I eat? I don’t want to die on those downhills! What if I need a wee? Will a baboon jump in front of me? (pretty likely) etc…  Endless worries. As it turned out, beautiful clouds rolled in on the race day morning and temps dropped to a “cool” 26 degrees. We couldn’t have been any luckier. 36,000 people took part and I managed to complete the whole race without a puncture, without falling off, without sunburn but with the biggest smile and Adrenalin high I’ve experienced. I can’t recommend this event enough to everyone!
I can’t thank you all enough for all the support and sponsorship. I have raised £4393.59 so far, which is just amazing.

Thanks Monika!  I don’t know when you found the time to train for this, and I know that the entire trip must have been very expensive for you.  You really are one of the most selfless people I know.

Fi Lovett owner of Fifi Wilsons on Abbeville Road – Fi held two clothing sales with proceeds going towards Christians fund and she raised an incredible £1000. I am so grateful to all the hard work both she, and her manager Dawn, put in to the event.  I know how busy they both are running two successful shops and am truly flattered that they wanted to help with Christian’s fund.

 

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Last of the Radiotherapy

July 5, 2007 by Peter · Leave a comment

Thursday 5th July 2007

Christian had the last session of radiotherapy yesterday and had his Hickman line removed this morning. he has coped remarkably well and even managed to get to his nursery sports day earlier this week. We are now all looking forward to a couple of weeks in Spain at the end of July.

In case you didn’t see it here is an amusing film we made last weekend…

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First Radiotherapy

June 14, 2007 by Peter · Leave a comment

Christian has had his first radiotherapy today. He was not particularly impressed with the room full of Doctors and equipment and was a bit upset but, hopefully, he’ll get used to it over the next three weeks. Unfortunately he doesn’t like the effect of the general anesthetic and so cries when he sees the white syringe. He did, however, recover very quickly and a couple of minutes after he awoke he was tucking into a jam doughnut.

He has had a tummy ache at night for the last couple of weeks which has been waking him (and us!) up. At first we assumed it was still pain from the chemotherapy but he had some tests yesterday and he has a urinary infection. He’s on oral antibiotics so that should clear it up pretty quickly but we are still waiting to hear back from the lab to confirm which bacteria is growing on his urine sample. Once identified they will either stick with the oral antibiotic he is on, or change it. There was talk too of sending him for an abdominal ultrasound tomorrow.

I am trying to collect the last of the sponsorship money. If you were kind enough to pledge and haven’t got around to paying please pay onlinehere. Similarly, if you ran the race and are still owed money from sponsors please send them the link and encourage them to pay online. Thank you all again for the amazing support, I have been assured by Sean Bonnington that the money raised will be vital to getting the “kids on 5″ project off the ground.

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Home!

June 2, 2007 by Peter · Leave a comment

We have been home for 10 days now and Christian is improving day by day although he is still a bit weak. We are hoping to be able to have his Hickman Line removed after radiotherapy and before we go to Spain mid July so he will be able to swim in the pool!

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

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