The aim of the Christian Blandford fund is to improve the comfort of children and their families, particularly those affected by cancer, during prolonged stays in local NHS hospitals. More here.
If you would like to be kept informed of changes to this site please send an e-mail to mailinglist@christianblandford.com with "include" in the body or just click here. You can also join our facebook page.
Christian Blandford has been through cancer twice. He was diagnosed with a clear cell sarcoma of the kidney, a rare and aggressive form of childhood cancer, in January 2005 when he was just 18 months old. After a grueling year of treatment, he was given the all clear but unfortunately relapsed in November 2006 when the cancer spread to a bone in his leg.
His second round of surgery, chemo and radiotherapy in 2007 was even more intensive and demanding than the first, but thankfully Christian is now in remission. He’s a happy seven year old who enjoys painting, dancing to Michael Jackson and playing with his puppy, Twiggy.
Latest news on Christian
When Christian was diagnosed, we started a blog on our family website to record Christian’s progress so family and friends could keep updated. you can read it in full here. Here is the latest update...
25 August 2010
Christian had to go to Great Ormond Street in London today to see a kidney specialist. As he only has one kidney they need to keep a close eye on his kidney function to make sure everything is OK. As Claudia is 8 months pregnant, Peter and Christian had a day trip to London on the train.
The good news is that his remaining kidney is working perfectly and has grown to meet demand. He had urine test, blood tests and a scan and everything was perfect. The only problem was that he was laughing uncontrollably when the doctor was prodding his tummy.
15 August 2010
We are very just applying for registered charity status for The Charities Commission so fingers crossed...
In the meantime we decided to have a bit of fun on wet Saturday afternoon to promote this site...
June 2010
Christian's latest check up went well again, he will now be having 6 monthly check ups.
Christian has always loved dancing, even when he was unwell and tiny he was a funky mover...
We are very lucky to have some wonderful friends and family who were incredibly helpful when we decided to raise some money for St George's Hospital in Tooting and have so far managed to raise over £200,000 for the hospital. We have put this site together to encourage further fund raising and to publicise people's efforts. Please consider the Christian Blandford fund as a beneficiary if you are raising money for charity.
For a list of all the events click the events link to the left. Here are the most recent:-
June 2010
Amy Hancox, a trustee with the Christian Blandford Fund, persuaded the Head Master of Finton House School to nominate us as the beneficiary of their Summer fete. They raised a fantastic £2,600.
Peter Radford has entered the grueling Etape du Tour bike ride and will raise money for two charities, Chase Hospice Care and The Christian Blandford Fund.
Pete is trying to raise £8,604 which is somehow relevant to the event. If you sponsor him you can guess what the link is and win a mystery prize!
He writes, "It is 112 miles and 3 mountain climbs in the Pyrenees. Given that I weigh twice as much as a pro-rider and prefer a G&T to protein shakes, this is a major challenge for me. Last year over 20% of the riders taking part did not finish - this must not be confused with a bike ride you can just turn up and get through on the day. We will be riding for around 10 hours on the day in 30 degrees heat. I am doing this ride with my mate Rob Lucas and we have been training since January, lost some weight and put a lot of miles on the bike. We are funding the ride ourselves with all the money from this site going straight to two charities."
Peter's sponsorship page is here
The New Beacon School raised £437.61 by nominating the Christian Blandford Site as a recipient of the collection at the recent chapel service.
February 2010
The Christian Blandford Fund has been given approved charitable status by the Inland Revenue. This will allow us to open our own bank account which will be done very shortly. The main beneficiary will ultimately remain as St George's in Tooting but this will allow us to have even more control of how and when money is spent. For now the donate link is still crediting St George's Charitable Foundation (the Christian Blandford fund) but soon the money will go straight to a separate charity account. The trustees of the charity are Peter Blandford, Claudia Blandford, Darren Bowler and Amy Hancox.
Darren and Amy have also been busy helping spend some of the money that has been raised so far. Here is how St George's put it...
Many of you may know Darren Bowler as a great friend of the Blandfords. He has now generously offered his time to help project manage and speed up the spending of the monies from the Christian Blandford Fund. Helping Darren in many different ways is Amy Hancox, whose daughter Anna is a former Pinkney patient, and who, along with her husband Matt, ran the London Marathon in April 2009 to raise funds. St George’s Hospital Charity is delighted to announce that both Darren and Amy have become official St George’s Hospital Volunteers and we are thrilled to have their dedicated input and enthusiasm.
November 09 - Peter's step father sadly passed away in November. One of the charities supported by friends and family in lieu of flowers at the funeral was the Christian Blandford Fund. Several hundred pounds were donated.
September 09 - For Claudia and Peters 10th Wedding anniversary party guests were encouraged to donate to the Christian Blandford fund in lieu of presents. Several hundred pounds were donated.
Summer 09 - The New Beacon Sponsored Swim and Run - all the kids at Henry and Christian's school got involved and raised an amazing £7,900
March 09 - Graham Ford - Christian's God dad is running the London Marathon for the Christian Blandford fund for the second year running. His just giving site is now up and running...
