About 4 years ago, my dad wasDiagnosed with CLL which is Chronic lymphocytic leukemia.When my dad first told me and my brother and sister we didn’t know what to say or do. Basically we were shocked. you never expect something like cancer toAffect someone close to you,especially one of your parents. I can remember just crying and I couldn’t stop for ages. When you hear the word cancer you just start thinking the worst. We all knew that there wasn’t some magic potion to make it go away, all we could do

was support my dad the best way we could.

What is CLL?

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)Causes a slow increase in the number of white blood cells (called B lymphocytes, or B cells) inthe bone marrow. The cancerous cells spreadfrom the blood marrow to the blood, and canalso affect the lymph nodes or other organssuch as the liver and spleen. CLL eventuallycauses the bone marrow to fail, resulting in lowblood counts, and weakens the immune system.

(“Forget me not” flowers are part of the leukaemia research symbol)

Open Blind

Hidden Unknown

This is the area I do not show my dad, maybe if I’m worried about him or if I have other problems to do with school or my friends as I don’t want to put any more stress on him.

This is the area I do not know about myself.

this is the area I show my dad, I talk to my dad quite a lot so this area is fairly big.

This is the area neither my dad or myself know about.

It affected my family in different ways, it made us more

aware of what leukaemia was and how it affects the people

who have it. For quite a while after he was diagnosed, my dad

was really down, he became depressed and he wasn’t sure

what to do. None of us were.

once we had got our heads around it, dad decided to do

something good.

He started helping others and Leukaemia research by raising

money for the charity. He wanted to Raise awareness of the

illness and help other people who have it. He did two charity

drives and a lot of fundraising for leukaemia research . He

was given a Scirocco and made a trailer from half of another

Scirocco to do the drives in.

My mum and dad did a 24 hour drive round as many Hospitals in the uk as they could. They took photos of all The hospitals they went to and raised £1500 .

My dad and his friend glen did a drive to morocco for leukaemia research, air ambulance, and Macmillan cancer support. They were travelling for just over a week and raised £6500 overall for the charities .

Last year, Leukaemia research asked my dad if we would all like to go with them on a trip in September.......to Disneyland Paris. Every year Leukaemia and lymphoma research ask families affected by leukaemia to go on a free trip to Disneyland, to give them a break from the stress and worry of the illness, we met many children who have leukaemia and it was great to see them all having a good time and it was a great experience .

Who am i?

well obviously I would like to be someone who’s dad wasn’t affected by leukaemia, but clearly this isn’t possible. I want to be someone who doesn’t worry when my dad looks tired all the time, but I do. I would like my family to not be affected by cancer but no matter how much I want these things it won’t happen .

Who do I want to be?

I am someone who’s dad has the illness. I don’t want to be but I am, so it can be difficult. However I also have to be strong for my dad and my family, since we found out he had the illness obviously things were difficult, he couldn’t do as much as he used to as he got tired easily but we all have to carry on and support each other so I suppose I am someone who is just trying to get on with things. I know there is nothing I can do to change the circumstances so I have learnt to try and accept things, I don’t want to but I have to for myself and my family.

Like most people, I value my family a lot. I always have done, however I think when something major happens to the people you love you realise how much you do value them as you become more aware that things can change happen which can make your life harder. I do value my dad a lot. I've always been fairly close to him so when I heard the news about his illness I suppose it really hit me. It opened my eyes to reality, which is that illnesses like cancer can and do affect anyone.

• There are four main types of leukaemia: acute myeloid (AML), acute lymphoblastic (ALL), chronic myeloid (CML) and chronic lymphocytic (CLL). 

• Around 7,000 people were diagnosed with leukaemia in the UK in 2007, that’s around 20 people every day.

• Anyone can be diagnosed at any time in their lives whether they are 1 or 101.

• The treatment of Acute Leukaemia in children typically lasts for almost 3 years.

• Due to the work of Leukaemia Research over the last 50 years 8/10 children now beat leukaemia.