My friend has cancer

I met David on my ‘Secondary Maths Teacher Training Postgraduate degree course.  There were a lot of us, I was in the ‘mature’ student group with teenage children and housework to get home to,  and David was young and child free so we didn’t hang out together or anything but I couldn’t help notice him,  he is a born teacher, full of ideas, enthusiasm and a passion for Maths, football and music.

In group presentations his influence was evident, his excitement shone, he always had us in stitches when explaining a concept, or providing feedback from some teamwork.

I got to know David a lot better when he got Cancer.  Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (T-Cell) to be specific.

David always has a really positive attitude towards anything that life throws him, but for David, his family and friends, living under the shadow of  Leukaemia, the future is very tense

Not because I visited him, or called him, but because he started a blog ‘Keep Calm and Chemo on……’ To plot his treatment, and to let people know how he was getting on.  He publicised it through Facebook, which is how I found it.

After his first relapse in 2012 he decided to do the London Bikeathon for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.  This was a 83 mile cycle along the Olympic route, including going up Box Hill 6 times! (we often walk Wilson there, walking up once is more than enough!)

Up Box Hill once is plenty!

I shared David’s fund-raising pages on Facebook & tried to generate a few pounds for him, and when I stopped working in July 2012 I had already decided to start a blog, inspired by what David had done.  I kept following his blog, and thankfully there were no more posts, apart from a few updates when he was about to start his Marathon Bike Ride, and then another with photos from the day when he recovered from the challenge.

A few more posts from David just filling in more details about his Bikeathon, and then radio silence as he went back to work, continued with his teacher training and even got promoted to Head of Department!  Quite an achievement.

It was awful to see David’s post of February 16th this year ‘Third time lucky‘ in which he posted that there were Lymphoblastic Cells in his bone marrow again.  Posts on his blog since then have been from his team of Family and Friends at St Georges Hospital in Tooting (Dick, Sylwia, Katie) as David had a bleed in his brain around March 12th and was not able to post himself for 2 weeks

On the 21st of March David received the fantastic news that he has completed his NQT training and is now a fully qualified teacher!  That news lifted spirits in the ward no end, as all of us who have trudged through teacher training and all the different standards will tell you, it’s no fun if you are well, healthy and working full time!  It must have been a complete nightmare for David.

David’s friend Chris is now fund-raising for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research (LLR) and has been going around dressed in a White Tiger Onesie in order to raise money.  If anyone feels like sponsoring him the link is here

http://www.justgiving.com/Christopher-Baldock

David has posted on his blog himself today for the first time in what feels like forever, and he is hoping to be allowed home for a visit tomorrow, transport & doctors willing.

He is looking for lots of visitors to his blog, lots of comments and lots of new supporters and followers to keep him going when he’s feeling crap, so please click here & follow David!