By Theo and Eve Holdsworth | Teenage Rb Member & Fundraising Manager
"A weekend lasts for years" - that's how Theo described the impact of a recent CHECT residential weekend for young people affected by the cancer Retinoblastoma.
This October, thanks to the support of our donors, eight teenagers were able to attend the event. The weekend was organised in order to give teenagers the chance to meet others affected by retinoblastoma, share their experiences, tackle some of the challenges they face and, of course, have fun. Activities included team building exercises, climbing walls, obstacle courses, clay pottery and stories around the campfire.
Here 15 year old Theo tells us what the experience meant to him:
“When I arrived my nerves flew out of the room – I was so excited that the nerves I believed I had just vanished as six complete strangers who I have never met before chanted my name while a row of high fives was lined up for me!
“While we all got chatting our team of people started becoming some sort of family. One by one we told our stories in a lot of depth about what happened, how it affects us and what it means to us.
“I’m not sure about the others but I’ve never gone into that much detail about who I am and what I feel about it. Everyone listened so well and understood why I was getting angry, sad, confident at points and when they told me their stories I realised that no-one’s stories are the same but the one thing we all had in common is that we all don’t let it get us down.
“The weekend had made every single one of us a different person, had made us understand more about ourselves and taught us that we shouldn’t be thinking about what we can’t do, but how we can.
“It took me away from everything I had to do at school or home; I didn’t worry about my GCSEs or the mocks that were coming up next week. I felt special and excited for what is yet to come, I understand who I am. Thank you CHECT!”
If you would like to help CHECT provide support to teenagers like Theo and their families, now is the perfect time to make a donation, as every donation we receive up to £50 will receive a 50% match from Global Giving. All funds are gratefully received and will enable us to continue our vital work in the fight against Rb. Thank you.
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