Blog on The Christian Blandford Fund

Good luck in the London Marathon Jamie

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:34:55 +0100

This Sunday, our friend Jamie Williams will be lining up at the start of the London Marathon to run 26.2 miles for The Christian Blandford Fund! Jamie with Pete and Rob and the CBF TriathlonJamie has been training hard for months, long runs in all weathers, early mornings, and the kind of quiet dedication that…

Live Piano Music, a Japanese Supper, and a Good Cause – Sunday 10th May 2026

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 22:09:00 +0000

We’d love you to join us for something a little special this spring… On Sunday 10th May 2026, Christian will be performing an evening of Romantic piano works at Oxted United Reformed Church, joined by the very talented Sophia Short. It’s going to be a relaxed, informal night, and we hope a genuinely lovely one,…

Merry Christmas 2025!

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 12:38:16 +0000

This year marked 15 years since our very first visit to St George’s Hospital with Father Christmas, a tradition we have been proud to

Two Incredible Golf Days, One Amazing Cause – Thank You!

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 13:43:12 +0100

We were been blown away last month by not one, but two fantastic fundraising golf events organised in support of The Christian Blandford Fund – each one full of laughter, generosity, and community spirit. The Stevens Golf Day – £7,102 Raised! On a glorious day in Kent, Annie and Adrian Stevens opened their home and…

Merry Christmas from The Christian Blandford Fund

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:38:43 +0000

We had another magical day at St George’s Hospital, bringing some festive cheer and handing out presents to the children spending Christmas in hospital this year. You can see all the photos from the day here. Patients and their families can download high-resolution versions for printing and sharing. A huge thank you to Tracey and…

The Waves by Christian Blandford

Tue, 28 May 2024 17:34:54 +0100

We are very proud to annouce that Christian has released a beautiful album of piano music all written and performed by him. The Waves by Christian Blandford is available on all major streaming services and can be bought on i-tunes. Please take a listen!

Mini Teslas for Hospitals in the UK

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 11:09:04 +0000

Back in 2019, some Tesla owners in the UK received Mini Teslas as part of a referral program from Tesla. Some owners generously decided to donate those cars to local hospitals. The community of Tesla owners, led by Tesla Owners UK, got together to raise money for more cars. Even Elon Musk got involved with…

Father Christmas at St George’s 2023

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 18:57:33 +0000

We had an amazing day at St George’s Hospital handing out presents to the children who are unlucky enough to be in hospital this time of year. You can see all the photos here and patients and familes can download hi res versions for printing and sharing. Thank you so much to Tracey and her…

Father Christmas at St George’s 2022

Fri, 23 Dec 2022 19:41:12 +0000

It was wonderful being back at St George’s for a father Christmas visit after 2 years away! We have put the photos up for friends and families of the patients to download here Thank you to our trusty trustees Darren and Amy and their families for wrapping all the presents. Thank you to lovely…

Goodbye Brenda

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 18:20:01 +0100

Brenda Trenowden and her wonderful husband Mark (Trend) have been one of Peter and Claudia’s closest friends since we were all young and fun as new parents in Clapham. They were very loving and supportive all those years ago when Christian was ill, frequently visiting us at The Royal Marsden and St George’s,…

Incredible gift for James Bond Fans! Only 1000 ever made.

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 14:25:04 +0000

We are very lucky to have been gifted an amazing item by Bob Ford and Greg Williams photography. This is usually a money can’t buy item so we have decided to list it on e-bay with 100% of the proceeds going to The Christian Blandford Fund. If you know anybody who would be interested please…

Claudia’s Christmas Fair

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 19:41:53 +0000

Claudia hosted a fantastic Christmas fair yesterday which everybody enjoyed and appears to have been even more successful in fund raising than previous years. The raffle prizes were bigger and better than ever so we have decided to sell the last few remaining tickets online to allow people who did not attend a chance to…

Some exciting news from The Christian Blandford Fund

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 14:38:28 +0100

It’s been a busy few months at The CBF. We have been finalising a very exciting project that we have been working on for the last 2 years. The fabulous news is that we effectuated a new Clinical Psychologist for the teenagers and young adults at The Royal Marsden Hospital . The psychology team at…

Merry Christmas from the Christian Blandford Fund

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 14:27:06 +0000

This year’s Father Christmas visit had to be virtual, with some somewhat unexpected results! We hope you enjoy this short video It was all worth it when we received this lovely message the following day I’m just writing to say a heartfelt thank you. My son has been in and out of St George’s since the end…

Share the love, share the music

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 10:01:12 +0000

Christian was due to be playing a Rachmaninoff piano concerto this week. It was to be played in Rochester Cathedral and he was to be backed by a very talented orchestra. For obvious reasons, this has not happened. He has worked hard to learn the piece and we thought we would share the love and…

Santa 2019!

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 20:47:37 +0000

We had another wonderful day at St George’s handing out presents to some lovely children who are unlucky enough to be spending this time of year in hospital. It was particularly good to borrow the toy Tesla car for Jessica the elf to drive around the wards as we handed out presents. This is one…

Fully Charged Live – Mini Tesla Appeal

Sat, 01 Jun 2019 12:08:07 +0100

On June 7th, 8th and 9th over 150 Tesla owners from Tesla Owners UK will be collecting further funds that will go towards our Toy Tesla cars for Children’s hospice and hospital appeal at Fully Charged Live 2019. To date 160 of these cars have been delivered (at no additional cost to the charity) by…

An amazing 8 year old girl’s initiative to help the environment and raise money for the CBF

Tue, 21 May 2019 17:37:58 +0100

Emmy Pop is at school with Jessica, Christian’s sister. She was concerned at the amount of old shoes going to land fill when children grew out of them, often when they were still in good condition, so Emmy had a great idea. Why not collect these shoes and sell them at the school fete? This…

The guy who surprises everybody at that airport piano!

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 18:21:49 +0100

The Blandfords have just returned from holiday and were delighted to find two checks for the Christian Blandford Fund. One from St George’s Church in the Weald for £747 and another from LVS Ascot for £743. We would like to particularly thank Luisa Northing and her friends in Coburg House at LVS who took part…

Ella Gracie’s Garden Project

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 17:53:21 +0000

We were so pleased to be able to support The Royal Marsden by donating towards Ella Gracie’s Garden Project. This new garden for the children’s ward provides some much needed outside space for the kids and their families. The first picture shows the space as it was originally!

Father Christmas at St George’s Hospital (and Pembury Hospital) 2018

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 15:28:51 +0000

Yesterday we had another amazing day handing out presents at St George’s. Christian and Jessica were fantastic elves helping me as Santa. The CBF trustees, Darren and Amy did a great job of wrapping presents and Neil and the St George’s play specialists were a great help on the rounds. As usual it was a…

Organic pear juice to benefit The Christian Blandford Fund

Sun, 04 Nov 2018 20:13:51 +0000

Our good friends Robin and Bee have kindly donated their entire production of incredible organic pear juice to benefit The Christian Blandford Fund. So we now have 550 bottles looking for a good home and we need your help to sell them! a bargain at £10 for 3 bottles £18 for 6 bottles the bottles…

The Greatest Showman Sing Along in Sevenoaks!

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 12:48:27 +0100

THE STAG THEATRE SUNDAY NOVEMBER 4TH 4 – 6.30PM £15 per person, includes: Popcorn and a choice of soft drink (bar open) In aid of the Christian Blandford Fund – raising money to refurbish the children’s ward at St George’s Hospital, Tooting For tickets please contact: Ruth Bussey or Kym Herregods Thank you so much Kym…

One of the more unusual items we have purchased…

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 15:21:14 +0100

One of the benefits the Christian Blandford Fund has is that its small size makes it very efficient so we can approve purchases that meet our criteria very quickly. The wonderful play specialists at St George’s had an interesting request, a mini MRI scanner. Children being treated often find MRI machines scary and, as they…

Our collaboration with The Tesla Owners Group UK and Elon Musk!

Tue, 14 Aug 2018 17:11:39 +0100

It started off with one or two Tesla owners donating mini Teslas that they received from a referral scheme. Mark Goodier, you may remember, donated his for us to auction and raise funds for our charity. Other owners approached children’s hospitals to see if they would like them, yet more owners pledged money to buy…

Finton House school fete supports the CBF

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 18:53:34 +0100

It is always lovely when somebody chooses to support the Christian Blandford Fund, not because they know the Blandford family but because they have been touched by something we have done and want to support what we do. Finton House School is very local to St George’s Hospital and have picked the CBF to be…

Thank you so much!

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 17:09:06 +0100

The 2018 CBF Triathlon Most of the sponsorship money has now come in and we have raised a staggering £95,000 including gift aid in the Christian Blandford Fund triathlon. You can track the latest number here, we are incredibly close to our £100,000 target. Peter, Claudia and the rest of the trustees would like to…

Christian Blandford Fund – GDPR

Thu, 24 May 2018 16:31:12 +0100

If your inbox is anything like ours, it’s recently been filled with emails asking you to read new privacy policies or asking permission to email you. This is because of a new European privacy law called the General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR), which comes into effect on May 25. While this is an EU…

CBF 2018 Triathlon – a massive thank you from us!

Mon, 21 May 2018 14:32:26 +0100

. The CBF triathlon was everything we hoped for and much harder than most people expected. We started at 8.00am with a beautiful canoe around Peel Island or Wild Cat Island as it was called in the film Swallows and Amazons. It was tough on the shoulders but actually…

Thank you Leyla, Isabelle and the team at Otto’s

Tue, 01 May 2018 16:24:02 +0100

Leyla Gilbey and Isabelle McCann organised a fantastic evening at Otto’s in Sevenoaks and raised over £2000. The photo’s of the evening are here. Thank you to the team at Otto’s, many of whom gave their time for free, the people who attended and of course Leyla and Isabelle for organising. There is less than…

A nice message from Claudia

Wed, 11 Apr 2018 16:22:39 +0100

Good News!! Today Christian and I have been at Great Ormond Street Hospital for his annual ultrasound/bloods/X-rays/consultant for his kidney. It’s an amazing hospital full of wonderful Dr’s, nurses, play specialists, therapists etc. However it is also a sad place full of very, VERY sick children. It reminds me how far we have come and…

One lucky supporter will win a week in an incredible Spanish villa with its own pool

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 17:56:49 +0100

As a thank you to the wonderful people who have supported the Christian Blandford Fund, the Blandford family are donating a week in a villa in Begur, Spain to one lucky winner. Everyone who has sponsored somebody, donated to our charity or is joining us for the event will be entered. The lucky winner will…

We need a few more people to join us on the CBF Tri!

Sun, 25 Mar 2018 17:39:12 +0100

The sign ups for the CBF Triathlon are going really well and we are very excited that there will be nearly 50 of us taking part. On the 18th May we are going up to the Lake District and having a fantastic weekend while hopefully raising £100,000 to completely refurbish the children’s ward at St…

Christian amazes the crowds at Toulouse Airport

Tue, 20 Feb 2018 18:10:24 +0000

We hope you enjoy this video taken at Toulouse Airport last week For those of you who are either participating or thinking of participating in our triathlon, please feel free to share this with people who have or are thinking about sponsoring you, you can use the share buttons at the bottom of this page….

Some great news and important info for triathlon participants

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 19:38:53 +0000

We have been given the green light to go ahead with the refurbishment of the children’s wards at St George’s Hospital in Tooting. The work will start in March with Nicholls ward and The Pinckney Ward, where Christian spent a lot of time, will come next. We are very proud to say that the Christian…

Time is running out to register!

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 14:20:17 +0000

You are running out of time to register for the Christian Blandford Fund Triathlon! Lots of people have now signed up but we also have lots of friends who said they are going to sign up who have not yet done so. You know who you are! Please do so as soon as possible by…

Santa at St George’s 2017

Sat, 23 Dec 2017 12:58:39 +0000

I can’t believe that this is the eighth year in a row that we have gone to St George’s to hand out Christmas presents. As usual it was a fantastic day and I am always impressed with how high the spirits are amongst the parents and staff. Thank you very much to the wonderful play…

Kids electric Tesla donated to the CBF

Sat, 16 Dec 2017 19:15:07 +0000

Mark Goodier, the Radio 1 DJ, has very kindly donated a kids electric Tesla Model S to the Christian Blandford Fund which we are auctioning to raise funds for the upcoming refurbishment of the children’s wards at St George’s. It is an incredible toy designed by Radio Flyer in collaboration with Tesla, the beautiful design…

Artwork installed in York Hospital’s Children’s Ward

Mon, 13 Nov 2017 14:53:47 +0000

Most of the work we do has been for St George’s Hospital in Tooting but we help in other places too. We just received this thank you from York Teaching Hospital… Thanks to the Christian Blandford Fund the Arts Team at York Teaching Hospital has worked with staff on York Hospital’s Children’s ward to…

Thank you Wendy!

Thu, 26 Oct 2017 20:15:38 +0100

Christian’s nana, Wendy Myers decided against entering the CBF Triathlon even though we are convinced she is more than capable. Wendy decided instead to organise a bridge afternoon to raise money for The Christian Blandford Fund. There was a lot of work involved and, with Gift Aid, Wendy raised and incredible £1500. Thank you so…

The CBF 2018 Triathlon – update

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 11:20:12 +0100

We are very happy to say that the take up for the CBF triathlon in May next year has been fantastic but we still have a long way to go. In order to join us for what promises to be a fantastic event please follow the following steps Step 1 – Please click here…

The big announcement – please read and share

Mon, 02 Oct 2017 11:53:09 +0100

Ten year’s ago this month we wrote this on our blog… Last week Christian had a bone scan and a CT scan and the results came back today, he is clear of cancer!We’ve got a long way to go and he is still in danger from the treatment, his kidney function, for example, is still…

We need your help – please respond and share

Thu, 06 Jul 2017 16:32:49 +0100

St George’s Hospital, Tooting, is about to start renovation works on all their children’s wards and they have asked the Christian Blandford Fund to assist with both ideas and financing. This could be the biggest and most important project we have supported and will directly help thousands of sick children every year. The children’s wards…

Who ever said never meet your hero didn’t know Ludovico Einaudi

Sun, 18 Jun 2017 23:23:11 +0100

Christian’s Favourite composer and musician is Ludovico Einaudi who has been a huge inspiration since Pete’s friend Sean Gardiner recommended him. Peter and Christian were both very excited to be going to Chelsea Hospital to watch him live in such a beautiful outdoor venue. What Christian didn’t know is that Marc Parish, his uncle, had…

Thank you Sophie and new music from Christian

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 18:49:41 +0100

Christian,

Neil Berrecloth is running the London Marathon next Sunday

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 09:51:56 +0100

We managed to get a place for Neil Berrecloth to run the London Marathon. He has paid the entry fee himself so any sponsorship will go straight to us and we remain nearly 100% efficient with almost no money being spent on administration or fund raising. Neil’s Fund Raising Page Neil is a great friend…

Christian’s Latest Piano Piece

Sun, 15 Jan 2017 10:48:09 +0000

We haven’t written much about how Christian is doing recently. He is doing very well! His video game creating is mushrooming with some famous youtubers playing his games and his own you tube channel doing phenomenally well with a recent play through of a game he wrote getting well over a million views! His gaming site is…

Father Christmas visits St George’s

Thu, 22 Dec 2016 19:19:25 +0000

It has become a tradition that has now been going since 2010. The Bowlers and the Hancox’s, trustees of the Christian Blandford Fund, order and wrap the presents and we visit the hospital to hand them out. This year Santa had his usual elf Chichi (Christian) and we were also joined by the reindeer…

A couple of Thank you’s

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 13:47:35 +0000

It seems like only yesterday that Christian was loving going to Stagecoach. His sister Jessica, has followed in similar vein, and goes to Make Believe in Sevenoaks. They recently had their Christmas show and half the money they raised went to the Christian Blandford fund. Thank you very much! It’s that time of year…

Chris Elsmore

Sat, 12 Mar 2016 16:47:35 +0000

Chris Elsmore was a great friend of the Blandford family and he and his lovely wife Simone chose the Christian Blandford fund for donations in lieu of presents on their 40th Birthday. Peter and Claudia were very touched that Simone chose us again as one of the two charities for donations at Chris’ funeral last week….

Santa and his Elves Visit St George’s

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 19:27:48 +0000

We had a wonderful day handing out presents to the Children at St George’s Hospital in Tooting Thank you very much to the play specialists for all their help. Thank you to the trustee families, Darren and James Bowler , Amy and Anna Hancox and Henry and Christian Blandford for being amazing Santa helpers!…

A Christmas Update

Sat, 12 Dec 2015 15:21:41 +0000

We have a few bits of news so thought it would be a good idea to do a quick blog post to update our friends and followers on what has been happening. We are almost ready for the Santa visit on the 21st December, as usual Pete will be donning the Santa outfit and will…

The New Beacon choir sing Christian’s carol

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 18:13:22 +0000

Christian is in the Chapel Choir at the New Beacon School and they had their Advent service at the beautiful chapel at Tonbridge school. The junior school choir sang Christian’s composition, “The Snow”, while he played the piano. If any parent wants photos of the event they can be downloaded from here. This is a…

Great News

Sat, 14 Nov 2015 16:49:01 +0000

We are thrilled to announce that Waitrose Sevenoaks have chosen The Christian Blandford Fund as one of their three charities for December’s Community Matters!! This is a scheme whereby at the end of your shop you are given a green token to place in a box of the charity you’d most like to support. At…

Kevin Britt – Night Rider!

Sun, 22 Mar 2015 14:14:22 +0000

Kevin Britt is doing the London night rider event and raising money for The Christian Blandford Fund. Kevin writes The night rider event is a 100k 62 mile ride around London taking in 50 of London’s most famous site including the Olympic park, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalger Square, the Royal Opera House and the London Eye. There are over 4000 riders raising funds…

Stagecoach – Medieval Market

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 14:39:11 +0000

Christian used to love going to Stagecoach in Tonbridge, and I received this lovely email from Wendy who runs it… I just wanted to get in touch to let you know that on our last day of term (28th March) our students will be having an informal Medieval Market for parents and friends. We would…

The Christian Blandford Fund – a 13 year old’s perspective

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:55:30 +0000

Claudia received an email recently from the lovely Lucy Docherty. Hi Claudia, Its Lucy here. I have attached to this email a piece of English work I had to complete for school, because Mum thought you might like to read it. We had to do a speech using persuasive and emotive language, and I thought Christian’s inspiringstory of…

Father Christmas at St George’s

Mon, 29 Dec 2014 17:48:41 +0000

We had a great day handing out presents at St George’s helped by the wonderful play specialists. The photos are on facebook here and also here where parents can download hi-res versions using the username guest and the password Christmas. Thank you very much for the very talented photographer Hugh Miller who gave up his…

Christian’s Christmas carol sung by The Cantus Ensemble at Sevenoaks School

Sun, 07 Dec 2014 22:47:05 +0000

Christian loves to play the piano and write his own music, this year he entered a competition run by Sevenoaks School to write a Christmas Carol for a 5 part choir. The winners and runners up in each age group got their song sung by the incredible London based Cantus Ensemble at the Christmas Carol concert…

Food Glorious Food

Tue, 21 Oct 2014 19:08:49 +0100

We strongly feel that our goal is to improve the life of children staying in hospitals. Sometimes that means spending money on buying things that make life better, but sometimes it involves putting pressure (gentle or otherwise) on authorities to make changes that we feel are important. All of the trustees in The Christian Blandford Fund, Peter,…

PS Vitas for the wards

Fri, 17 Oct 2014 11:24:00 +0100

We have just bought some of these great PS Vitas with some cool games for the children on the wards at St George’s. Time moves slowly when you’re in bed all day in hospital, hopefully these will add a bit of fun!

Momentum Meeting

Wed, 15 Oct 2014 13:29:34 +0100

Claudia, Darren and Amy are meeting with the lovely people at Momentum today. They have done some great work at Kingston Hospital and we are hoping to work with them on improvements to St George’s. I have been playing some more with the website. I have now gone right through the Christian’s Story Page and made every day…

More edits to Christian’s Story

Sun, 12 Oct 2014 14:44:25 +0100

I have had a bit of time to work on the Christian’s Story Page and added a new event which I omitted the first time around…. 28th September 2007 Last week Christian had a bone scan and a CT scan and the results came back today, he is clear of cancer! We’ve got a long way to…

Updated Christian’s Story page

Sat, 11 Oct 2014 14:02:16 +0100

I received an email yesterday from a lady whose 4 year old son has just had a relapse from a Wilm’s Tumour, a very similar situation we were in a few years ago. She told me that Christian’s story has given her a glimmer of hope during a terrible and frightening time. The fact that it…

Quick visit to Great Ormond Street

Tue, 07 Oct 2014 09:19:13 +0100

Claudia is with Christian at Great Ormond Street Hospital today for a biennial check up on his kidney. It’s a good reminder of how lucky we are.

The New Site is now live

Mon, 06 Oct 2014 17:08:15 +0100

We have been working on the new website which should be a lot easier for us to update and for people to navigate and share. Please have a look around and, if you have a moment, test it out, try sharing a story on facebook or twitter, for example. The Home Page is a good…

Piano Playing at Grandfather’s Wedding

Thu, 25 Sep 2014 21:17:40 +0100

Christian is still doing well, and his piano playing is improving, he recently played the piano at the church service for his grand father’s, wedding. Congratulations Bob and Annie!

A great donation for a fabulous cause

Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:13:15 +0100

Thank you to the fantastic Lancashire foundation who donated £3,400 to pay for an amazing piece of kit (http://www.accuvein.com/) that makes inserting cannulas (needles for blood) much less painful for children. We have bought four of these wonderful machines together with Samuel’s Charity. Thank you to Adam King for putting The Christian Blandford Fund forward for…

Christian’s new Hobby – Writing 3D Games

Fri, 18 Apr 2014 21:06:16 +0100

Christian’s latest hobby is game writing, you can try his latest games here. games.christianblandford.com

Christmas gifts for the children at St George’s

Fri, 27 Dec 2013 13:12:00 +0000

We have had a great day handing out presents to the Children who are unfortunate enough to be at St George’s over Christmas. Christian was a fab Elf and we had lots of help from the wonderful staff at the hospital. Henry stepped in as official photographer and took some photos which are here. I…

A Pianist and an Elf

Sun, 22 Dec 2013 16:01:25 +0000

As usual, we have bought a load of lovely presents for the children who are unfortunate enough to be staying at St George’s over Christmas. The Bowlers and the Hancox’s have been busy wrapping and the Elves has been limbering up and are ready to help Santa. There are more photos on ourFacebook page. As…

Sam Tanner – Bournemouth half marathon

Sun, 06 Oct 2013 15:59:26 +0100

Sam is Christian’s Aunty and is running a half Marathon at Bournemouth marathon festival for the Christian Blandford Fund. Here she is with Christian the day after he was born. Like all the members of our large family, Sam was very supportive through Christian’s illness and we are very grateful that on top of that…

Merry Christmas!

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:34:33 +0000

Merry Christmas! It is becoming an annual event, The Bowler and Hancox Families wrap up the presents and Peter, Henry and Christian pop over to St George’s as Santa and his two helpers. Today was very special with some really lovely children who seemed very happy with the visit. We hope they all get back…

An Amazing story of a bottle of 1990 Bollinger

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 15:38:40 +0000

I was very kindly given this bottle of Champagne by a friend before Christian was first diagnosed with cancer. When Christian got ill, the bottle sat in the cellar as we waited for something to celebrate. We decided that when he reached 5 years in remission, which is when you’re given the all clear, we…

Val’s Jump

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 15:31:50 +0100

Thank you very much to the (slightly crazy) Val Brand who jumped out of a plane for the Christian Blandford Fund. She raised over £750 which is an amazing achievement. Here she is… September 2012 Thank you to Ava and Ellis McNally who made some lovely bracelets to sell at school and raised nearly £100…

Darren’s Iron Man

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 15:28:51 +0100

Darren Bowler, one of our trustees was once known as “the fat controller”. Amazingly, he is doing an incredible iron man event in Switzerland in a couple of weeks. It involves a 3.8k swim (in the lake with 2500 others) , 180km cycle (through the Alps) and finally he has to run a full marathon….

Christian Meets Mark Owen and Opens a Garden

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:21:17 +0100

The Christian Blandford Fund made a significant contribution toward this amazing new garden at St George’s. It is a wonderful private space for children to get away from the wards. Mark Owen was very kind to come and open it. He was fantastic, signing loads of autographs, posing for photos, visiting the wards, and presenting…

Lovely post from Post Pals

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:50:59 +0000

There is a lovely write up from the wonderful people at post pals who loved Christian’s dancing video. Here is what they write… When Christian joined Post Pals he was a very poorly little boy fighting cancer for the second time, after finishing gruelling treatment for kidney cancer and enjoying a brief remission, the cancer returned. Christian…

Christian’s Double Dancing

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:18:05 +0000

It’s been a while since we’ve had a video of Christian’s dancing, this is something he put together all on his own, even the editing…

December 2011

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:51:01 +0000

16th December 2011 Christian had his 6 monthly checkup today. All good with nothing to worry about. Apparently now that he has been clear for four and a half years, the chance of a relapse is “tiny”. 14th December 2011 We have ordered all the toys for Santa to deliver to the children’s wards at…

Christmas visit to St George’s

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:49:09 +0000

Just before Christmas, Christian, Peter and Henry went to St George’s again to be Santa and elves and hand out presents to children unfortunate enough to be in hospital during the festive period. The Bowler family and the Hancox family did a great job of wrapping all the present and delivering them so they were…

November 2011

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:54:48 +0000

23rd November 2011 Thank you to Sam Palmer and the Sevenoaks ladies joggers for donating £180 to the Christian Blandford Fund after they all ran the Brighton 10k and had a celebratory curry with Claudia. With gift aid, their donation is worth over £250. 20th November 2011 Congratulations to Claudia for raising over £2000 for…

Take That Tickets!!!

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 08:59:19 +0100

2nd July 2011 Hi all – we have 2 more Take That tickets to sell to raise money for our bike ride.1st July 2011 – More take that tickets!!!!! – this is from Fiona, one of the Blondes on bikes TEXT ONLY your bid to Caroline Chalkley on 07788 598718 Opening/Reserve bid is £500 for both…

Blondes On Bikes

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 09:02:31 +0100

Caroline Watt Rachael Morgan Fiona Spencer Caroline Chalkley 378 Kilometres, 3 days, 4 blondes! Blondes on Bikes – for one weekend only! 16th – 19th June 2011 Who would have thought any good could ever come from a mid-life crisis?? Turning 40 years can make people do the strangest of things – we have a…

Blondes On Bikes

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:05:46 +0100

Four mum’s from Clapham are taking part in an amazing cycle ride to Paris. These are their words not mine… Who would have thought any good could ever come from a mid-life crisis?? Turning 40 years can make people do the strangest of things – we have bought a lot of lycra and decided to…

New Laptops for St George’s hospital

Mon, 16 May 2011 09:09:35 +0100

We are in the process of ordering 8 shiny new laptops for the Pinkney ward at St George’s. They will be available for use by children and their parents. This will allow the kids to play games online, watch DVDs, use social networking sites and do homework. They will also be equipped with Microsoft Office…

Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Show

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:12:51 +0100

Christian was in Mauritius last week and took part in a fashion show to launch Jean Paul Gaultier’s latest collection! Lots of other children who stayed at The Residence also took part. I have put the photos here and also on photobox here where you can order prints (password christianblandfordfund). Please share this site on…

February 2011

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:18:45 +0000

21st February 2011 Christian has been very keen to have some input into the site and has written the following… Thank you for coming to my website. The Christian blandford fund needs LOTS of money to make the children with cancer more happier. We need even more money for the St Georges hospital. If you…

Father Christmas Visit to St George’s

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 09:21:26 +0000

Peter put on a Father Christmas outfit and went to St George’s to hand out presents with his two little helpers Henry and Christian. There are more photos here. Some parents wanted copies of the photos, they can be ordered directly from photobox. If you have not used them before send me an e-mail at…

Visit To St George’s

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:25:55 +0000

Darren Bowler and Amy Hancox are trustees of the Christian Blandford fund and joined me on a visit to St George’s to discuss future projects and look at some of the recent purchases and projects we have been involved with. Here are some of the pictures.

Stagecoach Photos

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 09:31:12 +0000

Christian loves going to Stagecoach in Hildenborough I have taken some photos of their shows and thought that some of the other parents might be interested in prints so have put them on photobox. If you have never used photobox contact me and I will get you an offer code for 50 free prints. There…

Newspapers and Television Fame!

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 15:06:06 +0000

25th November I’m sure you all agree that The Sevenoaks Chronicle is the hub of global news and events. 21st November First newspapers, now television! Anybody local keep an eye on the Sevenoaks Chronicle next week too. 17th November I’m sure you all read the Daily Express and have therefore already seen this, but for…

Stagecoach Bravery Award

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:03:12 +0000

Christian enjoys going to stagecoach where he practices dancing, singing and acting. When they found out about his illness, Wendy and Keith who run the Tonbridge school asked if they could put him forward for a national Stagecoach Award. If you are interested here is the letter that Keith wrote. Christian, Claudia, Peter and Christian’s…

Claudia’s 10km run

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 08:57:08 +0100

Christian’s mum, Claudia has decided to run 10km to raise money for the Christian Blandford Fund, she writes… Hi, thanks for visiting my page. For those of you who know me, I am not a runner. I may attempt to jog a little bit but I am rubbish – I don’t “do” speed, I constantly…

Healthy and Delicious Pasta Sauce

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:11:45 +0100

Christian, Henry and I decided to have some fun promoting the Christian Blandford Fund

The New Beacon

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:21:46 +0100

The New Beacon School raised £437.61 by nominating the Christian Blandford Site as a recipient of the collection at the recent chapel service.

Pete Radford ( not Blandford!)

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:20:51 +0100

Peter Radford has entered the grueling Etape du Tour bike ride and will raise money for two charities, Chase Hospice Care and The Christian Blandford Fund. Pete is trying to raise £8,604 which is somehow relevant to the event. If you sponsor him you can guess what the link is and win a mystery prize!…

Christian’s latest check up

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:32:14 +0100

Christian’s latest check up went well again, he will now be having 6 monthly check ups. Christian has always loved dancing, even when he was unwell and tiny he was a funky mover… Here he is a few years later and much healthier

Finton House Fete

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:19:31 +0100

Amy Hancox, a trustee with the Chritian Blandford Fund, persuaded the Head Master of Finton House School to nominate us as the beneficiary of their Summer fete. They raised a fantastic £2,600.

Check up at Royal Marsden & Michael Jackson

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 08:39:20 +0000

Christian had his regular (4 monthly) check up at the Royal Marsden last week. He has had a persistent cough since Christmas which was enough to worry us. Happily everything is fine and the chest X-Ray came up clear. He took a DVD we made of him dancing to Michael Jackson and charmed all the…

Charitable Status and trustees

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:22:33 +0000

The Christian Blandford Fund has been given approved charitable status by the Inland Revenue. This will allow us to open our own bank account which will be done very shortly. The main beneficiary will ultimately remain as St George’s in Tooting but this will allow us to have even more control of how and when…

Thank you Sandy

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:23:30 +0000

Peter’s step father, Sandy Arthur, sadly passed away in November. One of the charities supported by friends and family in lieu of flowers at the funeral was the Christian Blandford Fund. Several hundred pounds were donated.

Wedding Anniversary

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:24:24 +0100

For Claudia and Peters 10th Wedding anniversary party guests were encouraged to donate to the Christian Blandford fund in lieu of presents. Several hundred pounds were donated.

The New Beacon

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:25:13 +0100

The New Beacon Sponsored Swim and Run – all the kids at Henry and Christian’s school got involved and raised an amazing £7,900

Baldist PR!

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:45:43 +0000

Christian and Claudia went to the launch of a new campaign at the Royal Marsden in Sutton yesterday. They asked to use one of our photos for the campaign, guess who they chose to take the mickey out of? Claudia was very excited to meet Dermot O’Leary and once Christian recognised him as the…

Graham Ford

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:26:05 +0000

March 09 – Graham Ford – Christian’s God dad is running the London Marathon for the Christian Blandford fund for the second year running. His just giving site is now up and running…

Good News

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:47:28 +0000

Christian has been complaining about leg pains for the last few weeks, mostly at the bottom of his right leg. This has obviously been worrying us as these were the symptoms when his cancer last relapsed to the bone. We told the Marsden about it at his review before Christmas and he was booked in…

Kathy Winser

Thu, 15 May 2008 12:29:32 +0100

Kathy Winser Kathy is doing a couple of events this year. Firstly she is doing a Triathlon on Monday the 5th May for The Christian Blandford Fund, and then in June she will be doing the 52 mile bike ride from London to Brighton to raise money for “The British Heart Foundation”. Nice on Kath!

Team Christian

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:32:22 +0100

Team Christian is a group of elite endurance athletes who train under the supervision of child prodigy Christian Blandford. Christian is widely regarded as one of the World’s most innovative sports scientists and is able to combine an encyclopaedic knowledge of biomechanics with an intuitive understanding of human psychology. Team Christian are currently undergoing intensive…

Race Till You Drop

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:31:34 +0100

One man, one mission Rob Hall is planning to come first in this year’s London Marathon. Yes, you heard me right, he has an elite runner’s place and his aim is to lead the pack for as long as he possibly can! Rob thinks he will be able to lead for 5 or 6 minutes…

More Tests

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:50:01 +0000

Last week Christian had some tests at the Royal Marsden – a blood test, a bone scan and a chest x-ray. The good news is that all is still clear. We had been a bit worried as he had a really nasty bug earlier this month with a very high temperature, and an upset stomach,…

Dee Gibson and Emma Darling

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:40:31 +0000

Clapham Common 10km – Dee Gibson and Emma Darling running and raising sponsorship for the Christian Blandford Fund.

Chris and Simone

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:39:24 +0000

March 08 – Chris Elsmore and his lovely girlfriend, Simone are having their 40th birthday’s this year and have very kindly suggested that friends donate to the Christian Blandford fund in lieu of giving presents.

George Kirkwood

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:41:33 +0000

February 08 – George Kirkwood chose the Christian Blandford Fund as the recipient of a generous donation from the Kirwood family trust, for the second time.

Amy and Matthew Hancox

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:27:39 +0000

Matthew Hancox’s daughter, Anna has also been treated for a kidney tumur and has spent plenty of time at St George’s. Matthew and a team of 20 runners from ING are running the London Marathon this year. They are pooling all the money raised and ING are matching all donations. The money will be split…

Happy New Year

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:51:04 +0000

Claudia took Christian into the Marsden for his 3 monthly check up today. He had a chest x-ray, a leg x-ray, and an abdominal ultrasound. The chest and tummy are fine and we should get the result of the leg x-ray in a couple of days. The leg x-ray was done at the last moment,…

Great news and new day at school

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 08:52:43 +0100

28th September 2007 Last week Christian had a bone scan and a CT scan and the results came back today, he is clear of cancer! We’ve got a long way to go and he is still in danger from the treatment, his kidney function, for example, is still not what it should be, but we…

Fi Lovett

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:43:03 +0100

July 07 – Fi Lovett owner of Fifi Wilson on Abbeville Road – Fi held two clothing sales with proceeds going towards Christians fund and she raised an incredible £1000. We are very grateful to all the hard work both she, and her manager Dawn, put in to the event. We know how busy they…

Last of the Radiotherapy

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 08:56:46 +0100

Thursday 5th July 2007 Christian had the last session of radiotherapy yesterday and had his Hickman line removed this morning. he has coped remarkably well and even managed to get to his nursery sports day earlier this week. We are now all looking forward to a couple of weeks in Spain at the end of…

First Radiotherapy

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:03:15 +0100

Christian has had his first radiotherapy today. He was not particularly impressed with the room full of Doctors and equipment and was a bit upset but, hopefully, he’ll get used to it over the next three weeks. Unfortunately he doesn’t like the effect of the general anesthetic and so cries when he sees the white…

Home!

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 09:06:03 +0100

We have been home for 10 days now and Christian is improving day by day although he is still a bit weak. We are hoping to be able to have his Hickman Line removed after radiotherapy and before we go to Spain mid July so he will be able to swim in the pool!

Recovery…

Sat, 19 May 2007 09:10:38 +0100

Christian has started to recover. His temperature has been under control and he is smiling again! He is not eating yet but is completely off the morphine and we hope to be home within a week or so. The radiotherapy has been booked in, it starts in the middle of June and it is given…

Stop it daddy…

Sun, 13 May 2007 09:08:50 +0100

As we expected it’s been a tough 10 days. Christian has been on Intravenous morphine for the pain and has had bad diarrhea and vomiting. He hasn’t eaten for about a week and has been on TPN which is intravenous nutrition. His Neutrophils and white blood count have been zero and as he has had…

Stem Cell Transplant

Fri, 04 May 2007 09:12:12 +0100

Christian has had his stem cell transplant. It didn’t go too badly but wasn’t a lot of fun, it gives him a sore tummy and nausea as it is given. Bizarrely due to the chemicals used to preserve it, it gives him a strong smell of sweet corn first and he now smells of tinned…

Chemo over

Thu, 03 May 2007 09:14:07 +0100

Christian has finished all of the chemo now. He is not feeling too bad, a bit more sleepy than he has been but yesterday he ran around and played hide and seek with me taking advantage of an hour or so when he wasn’t attached to a drip. Today at around midday he will have…

Artist

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 09:15:57 +0100

Saturday 28th April 2007 Christian is in pretty good spirits. He has been on pretty much around the clock chemotherapy as well and various other drugs to combat potential side effects. His NG tube went in Thursday afternoon and he pulled it out in his sleep on Thursday night so they had to put it…

Aunty Danny’s Birthday

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 09:17:02 +0100

We met with Kathy Pritchard Jones, Christian’s consultant yesterday. We have had various tests done this week ahead of the intensive chemo next week. All the results were as we hoped, with no spreading of the cancer to any other bones in the body. We are being admitted to the Marsden on Wednesday 25th, Christian…

Home

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 09:18:57 +0100

Christian is now home and feeling much better (as is Claudia). The intensive chemo is due to start on the 25th April (correction from incorrect date).

Easter Monday (and my sister Sam’s Birthday)

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 09:20:33 +0100

Christian has been pretty unwell all weekend. His temperature has got up to 40.3 C, this has made him very uncomfortable and he has had vomiting and diarrhea. They are not sure if it is due to a Bacterial infection or a Virus but his CPR count has risen to 250 which, apparently, is a…

Easter Saturday

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 09:23:01 +0100

We got home from The Royal Marsden Last Sunday evening. Christian has had a cold all week so it was inevitable that when his neutrophils came down to zero we would be back in the Hospital. He spiked a temperature this afternoon and Claudia brought him to St George’s. As usual he is on first…

Chemo

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 09:24:31 +0100

We are at the Royal Marsden again. Christian came in for the last dose of this round of chemo. It was the one that is given over three days with fluids so his kidney is protected. We were due home yesterday evening but unfortunately his temperature spiked and Claudia had to stay here with him…

At The Royal Marsden

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:26:41 +0000

We are in The Royal Marsden at the moment. Christian has had a ultra sound on his tummy and pelvis which was all clear. We have also had the results of the MRI on both legs which shows no spreading on the left leg and the right leg is clear. This is good news as…

MRI

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 09:27:54 +0000

We took Christian in for an MRI scan today at the Royal Marsden. It was done under a general anesthetic as he needed to stay still for over an hour as it was done. He always finds general anesthetic a bit upsetting but has recovered well and is now in a good mood. We will…

Red

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:29:31 +0000

Christian had his chemo last week which means there is only one dose left of this stage. After that, at the end of April, he will have the intensive chemo. We will be admitted to the Royal Marsden for it and Christian is likely to be very ill for at least two or three…

Photos

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 09:31:05 +0000

I have some photos of the run, they are here . I have set up a new donation page with a list of donors and total amount donated it is here.

The 10km Run in Battersea Park

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 09:32:54 +0000

Fortunately, we came home Saturday evening and got a good night’s sleep ahead of Sunday’s run. It was a fantastic event, the photographer Jonathan Cook has taken loads of photos, it will take a bit of time to process them all, there a few here. If you are one of the people who have generously…

At St George’s

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:34:43 +0000

Christian had been given his antibiotics and a blood transfusion and he was all ready to go home. The community nurses would finish the course of antibiotics by visiting us once a day at home. Claudia then noticed that the scar on his leg were the autopsy was done was red and inflamed. We showed…

St George’s

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:36:11 +0000

Christian’s Hickman line is red and sore, it is probably infected so we have brought him to St George’s. He is in good nature but is neutrapenic and his Hemoglobin levels are low so they have put him on antibiotics and he is going to have a blood transfusion. If he remains happy and doesn’t…

Home

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 09:42:57 +0000

Christian came home on Thursday and has had a good weekend at home. He’s back for chemo at the Royal Marsden, this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It is the one that needs him to stay in overnight for so Claudia will be in Thursday night and I’ll do Friday night. The run is going fantastically…

Still at St George’s

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 09:44:15 +0000

TWe were hoping to come home today but Christian isn’t well enough. He still has a slight temperature and his blood counts are low. He had a platelets transfusion and had a bad reaction to it which made him itchy and uncomfortable, He’s been given piriton which seems to have worked and is now sleeping…

St George’s

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 09:46:42 +0000

Christian has been on very good form for the last couple of weeks. On Wednesday he even went into nursery for the morning, they have made of photo montage for the wall of his day in! The last few days he has had a bit of a cold and his temperature spiked to 38.5 on…

Stem Cell Harvest

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:52:58 +0000

Claudia and Christian came home from the Royal Marsden today. Christian had a stem cell harvest done yesterday which went well, they got all they needed in one day, not two. He had a vascath fitted, which is a special line for the blood but that has already been removed. He is due for chemo…

Scan Results

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:53:55 +0000

Christian had a temperature on Tuesday so we have spent the last couple of days at St. George’s. It looks like it was an infection in his leg that caused the temperature. He has been on intravenous antibiotics which have done the trick and has been allowed home today. He will need to

Stem Cell Harvest

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 09:56:33 +0000

Christian needs to have a stem cell harvest next week. It will involve him going into The Royal Marsden for a couple of days where he will get a new line fitted, unfortunately the Hickman Line will not work for this. They will take blood and draw stem cells which will then be frozen. Stem…

Christmas 2006

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 09:58:54 +0000

30th December 2006 Fortunately, Christmas was fairly peaceful. We had to visit the hospital every day in the morning to get some GCSF but that was much better than the 3 visits a day it looked at one point that we would be making. Christian’s hair started to fall out so we had to give him a…

Christmas Eve 2006

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 10:00:53 +0000

We have been in and out of St. George’s for the last few days getting antibiotics for Christian. He has also had GCSF to boost his neutrophils and a platelet transfusion as they were very low. The last couple of nights we have brought him home to sleep and yesterday he was home most of…

Neutropenia

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:02:24 +0000

Christian and I are currently at St. George’s. He got a temperature yesterday and as he is very neutropenic he can’t fight infection. He is on antibiotics and is happy so I am hoping we get home later today or tomorrow. His Hickman line has become slightly dislodged so they struggled to get blood out…

Wedding Gifts

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 12:43:26 +0000

December 2006 – Juliette and Chris Norris asked their guest at their wedding to donate to the Christian Blandford fund instead of giving presents, thank you very much Juliette and Chris.

At home

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:05:27 +0000

Christian responded well to the antibiotics and we are now home. He needs another dose tomorrow and a community nurse will come to our house to administer it.

A Spike

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 10:06:14 +0000

We came in to the Royal Marsden today for chemo and Christian temperature “spiked”. It would seem that he has an infection of some kind, probably viral. He has been given intravenous antibiotics and will need to stay overnight as the next dose is due at 1.00am. From tomorrow, it will be due every 24…

Panto

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 10:08:11 +0000

We have just got back from the Royal Marsden. Christian had two different Chemotherapy drugs, Etoposide and Carboplatin. Carboplatin is given over an hour. Etoposide is also given as an hour drip but for 3 consecutive days, so he had it on Sunday, today and is due to go back for the last dose tomorrow….

Confirmation

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 10:11:42 +0000

The biopsy result finally came through today and the growth in Christian’s leg was confirmed to be a reoccurrence of the Clear Cell Sarcoma. We are taking him for his first Chemo on Sunday and he will stay in overnight so they can keep an eye on him. He may be home during the day…

Bone Biopsy

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 10:10:01 +0000

We took Christian to Stanmore Orthopedic Hospital today for another bone biopsy. It all went fine and the surgeons are confident that they got a decent sample this time. He is a bit sore but was allowed home. The results may take over a week but we are (sort of) hoping they come quicker so…

Bone Biopsy – Inconclusive

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:12:50 +0000

Christian had a Hickman Line fitted today, they also took a sample of bone marrow from his hips for testing. The operation went fine and he is now at home and relatively happy, if a bit concerned about the tube going into his chest… The results from the Bone biopsy came back today and unfortunately…

The Bone Biopsy

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 10:14:21 +0000

Christian had the bone biopsy today, it all went fine and they got a good sample. We will not get the results until next week so the Hickman line insertion is going to wait until then. He was in pretty good form all day, the biopsy was quite intrusive so he’ll be a bit sore…

Hope

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 10:16:33 +0000

We met with the Doctors at the Royal Marsden today to discuss Christian’s treatment. He will start his chemo shortly after the biopsy and the fitting of the Hickman line next week, maybe as early as Friday 24th. His chemo will be a lot more aggressive than the last treatment with a strong dose every…

MRI and CT results

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 10:18:48 +0000

Wednesday 15th November 2006 The good news is that the MRI scan and the CT scan results show that there has been no spreading anywhere beyond his lower left femur (knee). In order to confirm the fact that it is a return of the clear cell sarcoma he needs to have a bone biopsy which…

Shattering News

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 10:20:58 +0000

Friday 10th November 2006 After a year of peace, Christian had a Bone Scan on Wednesday because he has been having a sore knee. It appears that there is a “an area of increased uptake on the Lower Femur of the left knee”. The most likely reason is that the same cancer he had has…

All is good

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 10:22:34 +0000

All is good in the Blandford household at the moment, Christian has become a dancer…

Thank you

Sun, 23 Oct 2005 10:24:05 +0100

Sunday 23rd October Christian had his last chemo three weeks ago. He got a temperature on Thursday evening when he was still neutropenic from the chemotherapy. We took him into St George’s and he has spent the weekend in and out, getting regular intravenous antibiotics. The doctors think that it is probably viral and will…

Thank you from St George’s

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:34:19 +0100

Christian has been very well recently, hence the lack of updates. His last chemotherapy is scheduled in less than two weeks, which is an important milestone that we’ve been looking forward to. I have finally collected all the sponsorship money at the final amount raised is over £47,000. Thanks very much to all of you for…

We made it!

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 10:36:37 +0100

Christian’s Birthday

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 10:38:56 +0100

Well he’s home. We need to pop back to the hospital tomorrow to make sure he’s recovering from the chemo leak but are still hoping to fly to Spain in the evening . He’s enjoying his birthday so far and we’re having a little party for him later.

More Chemo

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 10:40:15 +0100

The chemotherapy went ahead at The Royal Marsden today. Unfortunately there was a complication with one of the three drugs. One of them is a slow drip over 4 hours and the needle slipped out of his portacath in the last few minutes and leaked into him. Bizarrely enough the chemotherapy is far more dangerous…

2 Hospitals…

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 10:44:40 +0100

We’ve had a couple of nights at St George’s with Christian and he has been put on oral antibiotics and sent home. It took that much time because the doctors wanted to make sure that it was not a serious infection which would need more heavy duty antibiotics and he kept “spiking” temperature. We will…

At The Pinckney

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 10:47:46 +0100

Friday 15th July Christian was due to be having his chemotherapy at the Royal Marsden today. Unfortunately he has had a high temperature since yesterday afternoon which is a sign of infection. Claudia took him to the Royal Marsden where they started him on antibiotics and then brought him to St George’s where I am…

The London 10km Run

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 10:49:11 +0100

First things first, Christian has been pretty well recently hence the lack of updates. His hair is growing back a bit and his speech is coming on very well. In true Blandford/Parish style, it is now tricky to keep him quiet. Yesterday was the 10km run that I have been talking about. Imanaged to drag…

More News

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 10:51:09 +0100

We made it through the difficult bit after the chemotherapy by giving Christian water from a syringe every 10 minutes, which he managed to keep down. He is now happy again and is eating and drinking well. There are now only a couple of weeks left to the run! As you can see from the…

Chemo

Sat, 04 Jun 2005 10:52:42 +0100

Christian went to the Royal Marsden yesterday for a triple dose of chemotherapy and some tests . As he is now over 12kg (just) he had the full dose, until now he has been on 70%. It seems to have hit him fairly hard and he’s been a bit sickly today not being able to…

Villa on offer…

Fri, 27 May 2005 10:53:33 +0100

Friday 27th May We were hoping to be heading to our villa in Spain tomorrow for a week’s relaxation over half term. Unfortunately Christian’s neutrophils are a bit low. This means that even though he is very happy at the moment, he is susceptible to infections, and a it’s not advisable for him to be…

A new portacath

Wed, 11 May 2005 10:55:17 +0100

Wednesday 11th May We were in St George’s today for Christian to have an operation to have a new portacath fitted. He is now home and all is fine. The only drama was that an antibiotic was given too quickly (it should have been an infusion over an hour and it wasn’t) and he got…

News

Sat, 07 May 2005 10:56:17 +0100

Christian had an operation on Thursday to take out the portacath and came out on the same day. He’s got a canular in his hand (a needle and tube) which is being left in as he needs more antibiotics. We are taking him back to St. George’s this afternoon for the last dose and they…

Good and Bad News

Mon, 02 May 2005 11:05:03 +0100

Good news and bad news: the good news is that Christian has been in a fantastic mood for the last couple of days, he was very taken with his cousins Elizabeth and Thomas who came around for a barbecue yesterday (Elena took some photos hereand here). The bad news is that the blood cultures from…

Christian at home

Fri, 29 Apr 2005 11:08:15 +0100

Christian has been home all week, is eating and drinking well and seems very happy. We are waiting for the antibiotics course to finish this weekend to see if his infection comes back or not. If it does come back, there may be no option but to return to St George’s to have his portacath…

Fund Raising

Fri, 22 Apr 2005 11:11:15 +0100

We got back from St George’s yesterday. Christian is on intravenous antibiotics once a day which are being administered by a community nurse. He has the same bug as before (an infection of the portacath) but the doctors are hoping that a full intravenous course will clear it up. If not he will have to…

A Spike

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 11:14:00 +0100

I’ve just got back from a night with Christian on the ward at St George’s so forgive me if this all comes out as a jumbled mess. All weekend Christian was very happy, eating and drinking well and generally having fun. Sunday night something hit him and he was throwing up during the night. He…

Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:15:03 +0100

Christian came home today. He has been given an oral antibiotic instead of an intravenous one and, as such, he does not need to go into hospital for it. He seems in pretty good spirits, if a little bit disorientated.

Problems…

Sun, 03 Apr 2005 11:16:02 +0100

Henry and I returned from the slopes today. Unfortunately Christian has not been well in our absence. The portacath (a tube fitted to an artery near the heart to allow access the the bloodstream) has become infected. He and Claudia have spent all of the week at The Royal Marsden where he has been on antibiotics….

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 11:17:58 +0000

I have just brought Christian home. He has a nasty cough but they think that it is viral, not bacterial and therefore not any more dangerous than if he wasn’t neutropenic. Claudia is taking him in for a checkup on Sunday morning to make sure that he is still OK. Henry and I will be…

At The Royal Marsden

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:19:41 +0000

Claudia took Christian down to the Royal Marsden today for his chemotherapy. Unfortunately he’s not very well so they have decided to keep him in. I’m on my way down there to take over and Claudia will be home tonight.

Home

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 11:21:28 +0000

Claudia brought him home today. He seems a bit better; as he is going in to the Marsden tomorrow for chemo, they were happy for him to spend the night at home.

A temperature spike

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 11:22:06 +0000

Christian had a high temperature yesterday so I took him to St George’s. I spent the night with him there and he has now been transferred to the Royal Marsden after much pleading from us. He has to stay in hospital for a couple of days as he needs intravenous antibiotics. The chemotherapy knocks the…

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 11:23:31 +0000

I have started to get calls from people asking me to update the site and I guess I shouldn’t just write when there is a problem. Christian is still pretty good, he had a couple of niggly days after the chemo, but he is now pretty happy most of the time. For some reason he…

Happy…

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 11:24:43 +0000

Just a quick note to say that Christian has been very happy for the last couple of days. He is eating and drinking well and is looking much better. He is a lot stronger than he has been for the last month and is walking around and playing normally. He is very giggly and has…

Bone Scan

Thu, 03 Mar 2005 11:25:58 +0000

Christian was due back at the Royal Marsden today for a bone scan. The idea was to give him a sedative and then he would fall asleep and would lie still while the scan took place. The doctors even hoped that he would remain sleeping as they inserted a nasal gastric tube. Unfortunately two doses…

Henry

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 11:27:30 +0000

A few people have asked me how Henry is coping with all of this. This evening, just after I put him to bed I asked him if anything was worrying him. Henry said “Yes, when Christian grows up will he be a man without any hair even on his legs?”. I explained that after the medicine stops,…

Going Home!

Sat, 26 Feb 2005 11:28:59 +0000

We have, remarkably, been sent home. To quote the surgeon, “it is a record breaking recovery from a five hour operation”.

Tough love

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 11:40:12 +0000

Christian is now out of intensive care and into his own room in St George’s. The phone number there is 0704 6200076 (x3517), Claudia is there tonight. He is sleeping lots and whimpering a little bit but is being kept comfortable by pain killers. Most of the tubes and monitors that he was on yesterday…

The Surgery

Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:41:00 +0000

The surgery seems to have gone very well, Christian was in theatre for 5 hours. The surgeon, Keith Holmes is confident he removed all the tumour. It was 10cm x 15cm and 1.1Kg, almost 10% of his body weight. He is now recovering at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at St. George’s. I have come…

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 11:41:54 +0000

We took him from the Royal Marsden to St George’s this morning for some blood tests. He will have the operation there tomorrow morning. We are now home and as he was in such a good mood I took some photos to show you the new haircut. By the way, Claudia received this from a family friend…

Some improvement

Mon, 21 Feb 2005 11:43:13 +0000

Christian has been much better for the last couple of days. The antibiotics seem to have cleared up the infection and he is eating and drinking, if somewhat selectively. He had the operation today to take a sample of bone marrow and we should get the results for that tomorrow. He also had a tube…

Antibiotics

Fri, 18 Feb 2005 11:44:15 +0000

Christian has still been a bit unwell today so he’s been given antibiotics. The good news is that he managed to stay still for the CT head scan without anesthetic, and that was negative. The bone scan and bone marrow sample will have to wait until Monday. His chemotherapy will wait until tomorrow too when…

An Infection

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:45:21 +0000

You may remember that Christian was due in hospital today to have a head scan and have a sample of bone marrow taken. He needs a general anesthetic for these and he unfortunately is not well enough to have it. He has a bit of a temperature and his breathing is a bit too fast,…

Dora

Sun, 13 Feb 2005 11:46:49 +0000

I almost didn’t update the site today because there is no real news. But I guess you may like to know that Christian has been in a lovely mood for most of the day. (Auntie) Sam and (Uncle) Paul came around and he spent most of the day happy and was very excited with his…

Home

Sat, 12 Feb 2005 11:47:39 +0000

The doctors decided to keep Christian in for further examination as his blood pressure was a bit high. The good news is that he was released earlier today and we are now home.

At The Marsden

Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:49:43 +0000

We are still hoping to take him home later today as he is off the drip. He has a bit of a rash on his face from an adverse reaction to the drug that he was given to reduce his blood pressure. He is due a course of chemotherapy, and they want to monitor his…

A New Diagnosis

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 11:51:04 +0000

The good news is that he has started eating and drinking, mostly chocolate and biscuits, but at least he is feeding himself. We should be able to take him home tomorrow. The less good news is that the pathologists have finished deliberating and have decided that it is, after all, not a Wilm’s tumour. They…

Wed, 09 Feb 2005 11:52:44 +0000

I stayed overnight with Christian at the Royal Marsden. The main concern is that he is not eating or drinking. In order for him not to get dehydrated he is on a drip and they are considering putting a tube down his throat so they can nutrients into him. It’s not as bad as it…

Chemotherapy effects

Tue, 08 Feb 2005 11:53:53 +0000

10.00am – Christian is not reacting very well to the chemotherapy. One of the side effects is a sore jaw, and this seems to be making him uncomfortable when he eats and drinks. The doctors were a bit concerned so we brought him to St. George’s Hospital last night and Claudia and he stayed the…

Good News and Bad

Fri, 04 Feb 2005 11:54:44 +0000

(Very) Good news – CT scan confirms no spreading of cancer into lungs or, in fact, anywhere else.(Slightly) Bad news – biopsy shows sign of muscle in the tissue, this means it is either a variant of Wilms tumor (fetal rhabdomyoblastic) or it is a completely different cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma). This other cancer would be treated…

An Infection

Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:55:37 +0000

Went back to St. George’s because a urine infection had been detected from Monday’s tests. Antibiotics administered intravenously and orally. Christian a bit niggly today…

Biopsy

Wed, 02 Feb 2005 11:56:32 +0000

Keith Holmes performs a biopsy at St. George’s and fits a portacath (a direct access to the bloodstream for drugs and removal of blood). Christian woke up a bit upset but was happy for most of the afternoon.

First Visit to The Royal Marsden

Tue, 01 Feb 2005 11:57:43 +0000

We took him to the Marsden where we met Kathy Prichard-Jones, she is the professor of pediatric oncology and happens to run a large team of researchers who research Wilms tumors. Wilms tumors have been “curable” for 20 years or so and 90% of children apparently make a full recovery. The treatment is chemotherapy for…

The awful news

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 11:58:56 +0000

Christian had a lump in his tummy so we took him to Jake McKinnon, the pediatrician who originally diagnosed his reflux a year ago. He was immediately concerned and we took him for an ultrasound and an x-ray which seemed to confirm a Wilms tumor in the kidney. Blood and urine tests were taken. Keith…

Sat, 19 Jul 2003 12:01:40 +0100

This is a copy of the original blog we wrote to keep our family and friends informed when Christian was being treated Christian was born on 19th July 2003 at 10.25am