No parent ever thinks that their child is going to be diagnosed with
cancer, but childhood cancer doesn’t care. It doesn’t discriminate.
It can enter your life at any time, leaving you devastated, with the
very real possibility of your child not surviving. 11 children are
diagnosed with cancer in the UK every day. Of those, a quarter
won’t survive the treatment and the vast majority will be left with
lifelong side effects from the treatments that have changed little in
the last 30years.
In 2016, a group of parents and grandparents of kids with cancer –
many of whom have already lost their child –
formed the Glow Gold September Campaign, which raises
awareness of the disease in several ways, including lobbying both
the Scottish and UK governments for more research and kinder
treatments for their children, who are being treated with 60 year
old drugs developed to treat adults.
With the backing and support of many well-known charities
nationally and locally including Clic Sargent, CCLG and CCLASP,
they aim to change the way children are treated, and improve their
quality of life after treatment is finished.
Pat Hayes, who lives in Glenluce, is one of the founding members of the campaign. Her own grandson Thomas was diagnosed with a
very rare cancer, Rhabdomyosarcoma, in 2010, at the age of 3. She explains the ethos of the campaign, and what they hope to
achieve with support from local communities, and the wider population across the world, as the campaign is not confined to the UK, it is worldwide.
‘’The aim of the Glow Gold campaign is to make the colour gold
synonymous with Childhood Cancer during the awareness month
of September. With increased awareness of childhood cancer,
comes greater awareness of the early signs and symptoms, earlier
diagnosis, increased funding, increased research, kinder more
targeted therapy and ultimately a change in the prognosis for kids
diagnosed with childhood cancer. We can’t affect what has
happened to our children, but we can make a difference for you
and yours, and hopefully ensure that there is a future for children
like my grandson Thomas.We have been asking iconic buildings and landmarks nationally
and internationally to light up gold from dusk until dawn in
September. We already have many iconic buildings and landmarks
on board including Edinburgh Castle, Spinnaker Tower, Althorp
House and The Millennium Bridge to mention just a few.If only one evening is possible we are asking that that be the 1st of
September. If your lighting is sodium and you already illuminate in
a gold colour we are asking if you would be kind enough to
dedicate your lighting during the month to the children who have
been lost, and the ones still fighting this awful disease.Dumfries & Galloway, and Stranraer in particular,has been very
supportive for the past couple of years, with Henry’s Bay House,
Galloway Bridal and Fyfe’s Hair Salon, among others, lighting up
gold through September.We also have a Grow Gold project, which involves public parks
and gardens planting yellow and gold flowers which will be in
bloom during September. Stranraer Community Gardeners have
created a Garden of Gold on Market Street which looks amazing in
full bloom.’’Anyone wishing to support the campaign by either ‘Glowing’ or
‘Growing’ gold, please contact Pat Hayes via email
[email protected]
Or visit the Facebook Campaign page for more information.
https://www.facebook.com/GlowGoldSeptember/
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