2005 | December | 22nd - Swindon Advertiser

Soccer kit nets aid for CALM

A FAMILY has raised £1,267 for children's cancer charity CALM.

 

Seven-year-old Chantel Boland was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour last year but is now on the road to recovery.

 

As a thank you to CALM parents Hayley and Paul, both 28, collected signed football memorabilia to auction.

 

And with the help of Emma Scanlon, an education consultant at Nationwide the auction was a massive success.

 

Chantel first became ill in May 2004, and soon after doctors delivered the devastating news that she had cancer.

 

After surgery at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford to remove the growth, Chantel had four cycles of chemotherapy, at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

 

She then had a six-week course of radiotherapy, which finished on March 15 this year.

 

From the moment Chantel first became ill CALM stepped in to help the family, and they say money 

raised from the auction is their way of saying thank you.

 

"CALM is a brilliant charity," said Mrs Boland. "The charity is run by parents who have or have had children with cancer and all the fundraising money they get goes straight back to helping families."

 

Mr Boland, a self-employed carpenter, stopped working while Chantel was having treatment.

 

"CALM gave us £250 to help with initial costs because if Paul doesn't work he doesn't get paid," said Mrs Boland.

 

"We've also had day trips to places like Legoland, which have all been free.

 

"And we went on holiday in one of CALM's caravans in Tenby."

 

The charity also provides support workers who gave the family advice during Chantel's illness.

 

Mrs Boland added: "We would never have taken anything from CALM unless we thought we could give something back to them.

 

"When Chantel was poorly it was a really hard time for us all, but CALM helped us through it and we just wanted to thank them."

 

The items the family had to auction were Liverpool, West Ham, Burnley, West Brom, Wolves, Norwich and Reading football shirts signed by the current teams, a signed Chelsea football, an executive day for two at Swindon Town FC and two tickets to watch a game at Wolverhampton.

 

Mrs Boland's brother, Wayne Hatswell, 30, who plays for Kidderminster Harriers and friend Adi Viveash, the former Swindon Town player who now plays for Cirencester, collected the items.

 

And after reading in the Advertiser that the family needed help with the auction Mrs Boland's schoolfriend, Emma Scanlon, said that Nationwide would hold the auction.

 

She said: "I knew Chantel was ill and when I read that Hayley and Paul needed help I thought with all the people that work at Nationwide we would be able to raise quite a lot of cash.

 

"We created a website for the auction which went across all of Nationwide's branches, put a reserve price on some of the best shirts and then waited for the bids."

 

The auction was held from Monday until Tuesday this week and within an hour the Liverpool shirt had been sold for £300 and the Chelsea football for £100.