A super hero-themed sponsored walk to celebrate a young boy’s recovery from cancer recently raised more than £2,000 for the charity that helped an Angus family when they needed it most.
Adam Stewart, now eight, and his gran Linda Brymer raised the money last month for Tayside Children with Cancer and Leukaemia (TCCL) to say thank you for the support they received after Adam was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2012.
During the 18 weeks Adam, who was then three, was in hospital, his parents Sarah and Ryan stayed positive and made sure that Adam missed out on as little as possible whilst he was ill. And the support the family received from TCCL was invaluable during this time.
“We first discovered TCCL when someone visited us while Adam was in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and gave Sarah a cheque to help with travel, food and any extras,” explains Linda.
“They have been a huge support in the three and a half years that Adam was ill. They paid for Ryan to learn to drive – we live in Brechin and it’s a 60-mile round trip to Ninewells; they gave vouchers for Tesco and Toys R Us at Christmas.”
In addition, they’ve been able to stay at TCCL Lodge in St Andrews twice, a holiday home for sick children and their families within easy reach of the hospital, offering the chance to get away from it all for a week.
Now fully recovered, Adam is just like any other little boy enjoying football and swimming, and last month, to celebrate a year since his last treatment, raising funds – and awareness – for TCCL was their first priority.
“Adam and I were looking for something that he could take part in to raise money and decided to organise our own sponsored 10k walk.
“Our initial target was £500 and we were absolutely amazed that we raised £2169.45.”
The walk, through Brechin, grew arms and legs and around 40 people – and their dogs – took part dressed in superhero costumes.
“We hadn’t even heard of TCCL until Adam was ill. They found us when we needed them most and we want to raise awareness of the wonderful work they do.”
Super facts about super heroes
Did you know that originally the Hulk was supposed to be grey rather than green. It was changed because green looked better in print.
Superman’s is known for his good looks and dark hair. But originally he was supposed to be bald and obsessed with dominating the world.
Wolverine was originally known as the Badger who was supposed to battle with the Hulk.
Spider-Man was almost called Fly Man.
The 2009 Amazing Spider-man comic has Spidey meet President Barrack Obama, and they even share a fist bump.
Michael Jackson came close to owning Marvel Comics because he wanted to play the role of Spider-Man.
Batman’s arch enemy the Joker was supposed to die just after the first Batman series. But writers saw potential in the villain and brought him back to mess around with Batman.
Wonder Woman was made out of clay by her mother and was given life by Greek gods.
Info from www.moviepilot.com and www.mocomi.com
