“I really felt that my Dad was with me and I had tears rolling down my cheeks. I just thought: ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this’.
“But out of everything, the most memorable moments are meeting people from different cultures, such as people from China, Nepal and Africa. It makes me really appreciate how lucky I am to live in a developed country”.
Kay’s son, Lee White, aged 25, has also participated in Redventure’s trips. He climbed Kilimanjaro two years ago and is going dog-sledding in Sweden next year.
Lee’s father, Kay’s ex-husband, was diagnosed with Leukaemia five years ago. Due to advanced research from Cure Leukaemia, he is now in full remission, but Kay remembers telling Lee and her daughters Lara, aged 18, and Nina, aged 20, the initial bad news.
“It was just absolutely devastating for everybody,” she says. “You take certain things for granted, like him being there to walk his daughters down the aisle, and suddenly all those things might never happen”.
Blood cancer, also known as leukaemia, is caused by increased numbers of white blood cells in the blood and bone marrow. It cannot currently be cured, but Kay assures that researchers at the Cure Leukaemia Centre are incredibly close to making a break-through.
“Sometimes it can only buy people another two or three years, but those two or three years make a difference”
Patients in remission no longer show signs of carrying the cancer, but must continually undergo blood tests to monitor this.
“Can you imagine living with that?” Kay asks: “Knowing that you have to keep going for tests and keeping your fingers crossed that they’re not going to find it again?”
Funding from Redventure has resulted in improved facilities at Birmingham’s Cure Leukaemia Centre, more research nurses and a new blood counts machine. Previously, leukaemia patients had to wait for blood test results, but Redventure has ensured that this process is now immediate.
Kay adds: “Because it’s a research centre, the drugs that are developed throughout the drug companies can be used immediately with the patients. It really does put people into remission. Sometimes it can only buy people another two or three years, but those two or three years make a difference”.
Since it opened, the Cure Leukaemia Centre has received £11million worth of treatments from drug companies, and research is shared throughout hospitals across the UK and Europe. Many people can now be treated as out-patients at the centre, rather than staying in hospital to undergo invasive, complex therapies.
Run by Professor Charles Craddock, the centre has also become a Centre of Excellence within Europe, and is used by seven thousand patients each year. The closest alternative Centre of Excellence is in Texas, America.
“Every patient I’ve ever met has just blown me away with their strength and determination. They really are an inspiration”
Symptoms of leukemia vary amongst people, and some don’t have any symptoms at all in the early stages, but they can include excessive bleeding, tiredness and increased susceptibility to infections. Cancer cells can also infiltrate organs and lead to swelling.
Despite this, Kay says that she has never met a patient who felt sorry for themselves: “Every patient I’ve ever met has just blown me away with their strength and determination,” she says. “They really are the inspiration for the treks”.
When the hikes become difficult and people begin to feel like giving up, Kay reminds them of the patients and the reasons for doing the treks.
“Whilst climbing Kilimanjaro a few years ago, we all began to find it incredibly difficult,” she says. “But prior to going up the mountain, I had spoken about a patient called Claire. She was 25 years old, and the bouts of chemotherapy she was having were making her so poorly, and her legs were so swollen that she couldn’t get out of bed.
“But she was still making hand-made cards to sell at Christmas to raise money for the charity. She wasn’t thinking of herself; she was thinking about what she could do to help others, and I just thought: ‘If Claire can do that, we can put one foot in front of the other’”.
Unfortunately, Claire lost her battle with leukaemia and never had the chance to hear the tales from the Kilimanjaro trip. It’s a sad reality that some patients lose their lives to the disease, but with continued efforts from Cure Leukaemia, the amount of suffering will continue to reduce.
Redventure helps participants to raise money to attend the trips in a variety of ways, offering advice and guidance throughout the process.
Adventures for 2009 include the Sahara trek, Kilimanjaro, dog-sledding in Sweden and the Inca Trail trek in Machu Picchu.
For more information, visit redventure.org and cureleukaemia.co.uk.
View the Redventure photo gallery at: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/slideshow/Red+Venture+-+Cure+Leukemia-556_home.html
By Kay Taylor