On 14th January 2007, I was told that my son Oscar would not survive the day. At that point, he had endured two forms of leukaemia, two bone marrow transplants, over 100 blood transfusions, five brain haemorrhages and five years of chemotherapy.
On 14th September 2018 my colleagues and I are racing in the fifth OSCAR dragon boat race to raise funds to save the lives of children like Oscar. Please consider sponsoring us (or indeed the event itself). Our just giving page is here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dragonboatspinnaker.
Despite the grim prognosis in 2007, Oscar's medical team persevered. They got him through the immediate crisis and then were able to conquer his transplant rejection disease with a new form of stem cell transplant. He was the first child in the UK to receive this treatment. Eleven years later, he is 19, working full-time as a chef in London and has just travelled to Australia on his own on holiday.
Oscar's life was saved by experimental treatments developed for use for all children globally by the bone marrow transplant specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Institute of Child Health.
The shipping industry raises funds through the OSCAR Campaign to support their research and the new treatments they develop, which save the lives of children today that only a year or two ago wasn't possible. So far, shipping has raised more than GBP1.7 million.
Thank you so much. Every little genuinely helps.
All the best,
Phil Parry
For a short film about the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y88BPH01y2o
Oscar's story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y6kXq3VB8M
