Raising money for Child Cancer

11th March 2010

NGAERE woman, Mandy Patterson has a lot more air circulating around her scalp at the moment, having shaved her hair to raise money for the Child Cancer Foundation (CCF).
Her hair got the chop on February 20, courtesy of Noir Hair and Day Spa; with staff member Kim taking just over ten minutes to bald Mandy.
For her efforts, Mandy managed to raise around $950 in Taranaki, with an additional $500 or so dollars expected from her friends and former colleagues in Waikato.
“I was really pleased with how well I was supported,” says Mandy.
“And I’d like to say thank you to all my sponsors, to Noir Hair and Day Spa and to the CCF for their help and support.”
Mandy’s interest in child cancer began when her son Caleb, now 10, was diagnosed with leukaemia at age 4½, when they lived in Hamilton.
“He was complaining about having sore legs and being tired all the time, and initially, our GP didn’t really know what it was.
“Eventually he was tested and found to have leukaemia and it really did turn our world upside-down.”
After the initial diagnosis, Caleb was admitted to Auckland’s Starship Hospital for a month, while Mandy stayed nearby at Ronald McDonald House.

After the first month, he would go back once a week, moving through to once fortnightly.
Eventually, it became once every six months, and then once a year.
“Caleb was a subject in a research group and even though I was a bit worried about signing him up to the study, I thought that through research over the last 30 years, survival rates in children have risen from 30% to 85%.
“If Caleb’s experiences could somehow help other children in future, then it would be worth it.”
And Caleb’s experiences also became the subject of a book that Mandy wrote, detailing his challenges – and her challenges as his mother.
“We used it as another way to raise money for CCF, as well as a way to educate other children about leukaemia.
“Because Caleb was ‘sick’ some children would think what he had was somehow contagious, so I wanted to give them clear information about his condition.”
Eventually Mandy and Caleb moved down to Taranaki and have continued to enjoy the support of the CCF, though new challenges now face the family with Caleb being recently diagnosed with Type I diabetes.
“Unlike leukaemia, diabetes is controllable. The worst thing though is he will have to spend his life with this condition, but he’s resilient and we have a lot of support around us,” says Mandy.