Rebecca
Staff at Tesco in Skipton are fundraising to support their colleague.
CLIC Sargent is a cause close to the hearts of staff at the Tesco store in Skipton. Their colleague, 17-year-old Rebecca Harrison, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 1999 and has benefitted first-hand from the services CLIC Sargent offers.
One hundred and fifty guests, including staff from the Skipton store, donned their glad rags in July for a fundraising ball at Leeds football club that raised more than £5,000 for CLIC Sargent.
Rebecca gave an inspirational speech on the night. Here are some extracts from her speech:
“Firstly, I am going to tell you a brief history of how I was privileged enough to benefit from the services of CLIC Sargent. At the age of six I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia which is a cancer of the blood. After relapsing in summer 2002 at the age of nine, I needed a bone marrow transplant.
“Two years after receiving my bone marrow transplant, at the age of 12, I was given the opportunity to spend a residential week in the Lake District at the Lakeside YMCA youth hostel. This week was funded entirely by CLIC Sargent and enabled children from the hospitals in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Sheffield to experience a week of freedom and independence.
“The week was fully planned out and we were all mixed into different groups so we were able to meet children from other hospitals and talk about our illnesses. It helped me to realise that I was not the only person in the world that was suffering and helped me to understand that I wasn’t being punished for something that I had done wrong. The week was fantastic!! It included rock climbing, orienteering, kayaking, zip wiring, camping, raft building and much, much more.
“I am so very thankful to CLIC Sargent as I was able to step back from hospital life for two weeks and forget that I had ever been ill in the first place. Thank you CLIC Sargent from the bottom of my heart, the services you provide for children with cancer is precious.”