Month: August 2024

A fundraiser is set for ‘Olympic success’ after pledging to complete 20 triathlons in 50 days in aid of local charities – and as a tribute to his late mum.

Spencer Costley, from Coventry, is on target to complete the mammoth seven-week sporting challenge this week, ahead of his 50^th birthday – he is the same age as his mum Janice when she died 22 years earlier.

Since July 6^th Spencer has covered a total of 1,032km running, swimming and cycling, and the financier, who works at Paragon Bank in Solihull, has already smashed through his target total of £1,000 for Warwick-based Molly Ollys and Myton Hospice, in Warwick, Coventry and Rugby.

He said: “My mum lost her three-year battle with leukaemia on Valentine’s Day in 2002 aged 49. This year I’m 49 so wanted to do a big charity challenge in her memory. On the 22nd September I will be exactly the same age as my mum when she died. The 50-day challenge is important to me too. It’s symbolic as she never made 50.

“This has been a significant challenge but I have spent a lot of time remembering how funny, loving and generally brilliant my mum was. Myton and Molly Ollys both support terminally ill patients and mum would certainly approve of the great work they do. Molly Ollys is this year’s nominated charity for my company, Paragon Bank.”

It’s the precious memories that have powered Spencer through while running every day, cycling most days and swimming three times a week. But he often reflects on those subsequent lost years without, not just a mum, but a grandmother to his three children.

“It was tough going to hospital with my wife Faith being pregnant and then having a newborn. We saw my mum a lot in the last few months so she got to see my daughter Shannon as much as possible but the last six weeks of her life flew by and she deteriorated very quickly after her last Christmas. It’s so sad that she has never met my son Zac or daughter Poppie. My brother also has three children all born after my mum died,” he added.

“I guess the focus on Shannon and a young family got me through the tough times and since her death our family mantra is to live life to the full because you don’t know how long you’ve got.

Molly Ollys was established in 2011 by Rachel and husband Tim following the death of their eight-year-old daughter Molly from a rare kidney cancer.

The charity works to support children with terminal or life-limiting illnesses and their families and help with their emotional wellbeing. As well as providing wishes, they donate therapeutic toys and books to both children directly and to hospitals throughout the UK.

The therapeutic toy lion called Olly The Brave who has his own Hickman line and a detachable mane which helps to explain and normalise the effects of chemotherapy. These form part of an Olly The Brave pack that has now been handed out to more than 70 hospitals or health centres, along with a set of books from the charity’s exclusive Olly The Brave series.

Myton has three hospices in Coventry, Warwick and Rugby – as well as Hospice Inpatient beds in Coventry and Warwickshire – which care for people living with a wide range of life-limiting illnesses including Respiratory, Heart & Neurological conditions, Cancer and Organ failure.

Spencer added: “Mum would be super proud, although she would have laughed and called me crazy for doing this, but she loved life and doing crazy stuff makes life more fun. My most precious memories of her are her laughter, always being silly but also very kind and loving. She always looked for the fun in life.”

To sponsor Spencer visit here.

ABOUT MOLLY OLLYS:

 Throughout the 10 years Molly Ollys has been running, it has raised more than £4 million; granted more than 2,500 wishes; supported more than 16,000 children and distributed more than 13,000 Olly The Brave books to more than 70 hospitals.

The charity works alongside the NHS to support projects within the hospitals and the community. One key project was the creation and refurbishment of Magnolia House at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. This is a safe and non-clinical space where medical teams and families can have important discussions.

Molly Ollys is also responsible for funding the first ever consultant in paediatric palliative medicine at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, in 2018 and, at the end of last year, it further provided funding for two more consultants, doubling the number of existing roles in the region.

 Molly Ollys need the support of companies and individuals to enable us to help more children. We welcome the opportunity to provide more information about our work. Please help us to make those dark days brighter. For details contact Rachel on 07747 854914.

ABOUT MYTON HOSPICES

At Myton the focus is on enhancing life when a cure is no longer an option; supporting people living with a wide range of terminal illnesses, and their families, from the point of diagnosis to end of life.

Their work centres on empowering patients to achieve their goals and involving them in decisions about their current and future care.

By focusing on their wellbeing and seeing them and not the illness, Myton aims to help the patient re-engage with their lives and give them more quality time with their families and loved ones.

At the age of just 41, Zelda Wilson, from Warwick, was given a 50% chance of surviving beyond 12 months.

Seventeen years later and while still battling Grade 4 breast cancer, she is celebrating a return from her latest adventure – a 500km cycling trip over the Alps on her lightweight Brompton folding bike!

Zelda has also raised around £1k for charity as a result of her seven-day ride along the 2,100m Gotthard Pass between Basel in Switzerland and Como in Italy.

Joined by her partner Frank, the pair camped almost every night en route, including two nights wild camping.

She said: “The biggest challenge was the weather – especially cycling through the headwinds – and coping with the cobbled roads but I managed to push through. By the fifth day, the adrenalin had worn off and the heat set in. The scenery had become quite boring as we weren’t on a cycle route at this stage, but a main road.”

Zelda’s original cancer diagnosis triggered the start of a gruelling treatment programme and pre-emptive double mastectomy and hysterectomy. Her father’s breast cancer diagnosis in the same year had prompted tests which uncovered the BRCA2 tumour supressor gene in the family.

In 2018, and just when she was clawing back confidence in her body, her health and her life as a single mother of two small children following divorce, Zelda found another lump in her neck. The cancer had metastasised into her bones and, in the words of her oncologist, this was now what she was ‘going to die from.’

This was the catalyst for her new-found lust for adventure and she has taken every opportunity between treatment rounds to test her own limits, including numerous marathons, pilgrimages, cycling expeditions and Iron Man (twice!) In what some might see as an act of defiance, she even cycles to and from her hospital appointments!

It went badly wrong, however, on a recent cycling trip between São Paulo and Rio in March this year, when she was involved in a serious accident which left her with a broken neck, an injury from which she is still fully recovering.

South African-born Zelda, whose name translates as ‘warrior,’ fights hard every day against fatigue. She said: “Even my oncologist doesn’t know how I’ve managed to defy the odds. I believe it’s multifactorial. Staying busy, having a vision, exercising never giving up, having fun and, importantly, reframing it into something positive.

“I decided to change my fear to curiosity. It was a big change for me. Fear paralyses you while curiosity demands action. So I decided to be curious about the cancer, what effect it has on me, what I can or can’t do. I accept that, in the meantime, I am a little bit more vulnerable.

“I don’t actually believe in the saying, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ I believe ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you more vulnerable.’ You are more aware of the things that can go wrong. Before I thought I was invincible and nothing could happen to me. I didn’t even think about it. But now I know the body is both very vulnerable and very strong at the same time.

“I have always been blessed with optimism and a short memory of pain. I do get tired sometimes but South Africans are used to pushing through, it is in our history.”

The toughest bout in Zelda’s cancer battle was still to be fought when, in spring last year, a scan revealed a tumour in her brain. Suddenly she was facing the bitter reality that she could not outrun this vicious disease forever.

In typical warrior spirit, she refused to accept the prognosis of at least two consultants who warned of an 80% chance of the surgery leaving her paralysed down her right side, and instead went in search of another opinion.

As a result, in June last year, she underwent 11-hour brain surgery to remove the tumour. Despite the operation being deemed a success, it brought one devastating and unexpected consequence – robbing her of her speech.

Once again adopting the defiant warrior spirit, Zelda threw herself into months of therapy to regain her speech and, just a few weeks ago, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when she bravely took up an invitation to do a reading at a friend’s wedding.

Nor has it stopped her from continuing with her passion project – a podcast encouraged by friend Catherine Williamson – and inspired by her cancer story in the hope of instilling hope and positivity in others. Each episode of ‘Zelda, Princess Warrior’ hears from experts in the fields of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing – all factors Zelda credits in her journey to, not just survive, but thrive.

Longer term, she continues on with the immunotherapy treatment which, at least for now, is managing to keep the cancer under control. Her mission today is ‘simply’ to stay alive in three-month segments – the time between the dreaded scans and her oncology appointments.

She said: “One can see my cancer journey as battling for life. I don’t see it like that. I am not afraid to die. I am reluctant to miss anything. But life carries on and you must miss something somewhere. During my cancer journey I just live the best I can.”

Zelda was cycling in aid of Cancer Research UK. You can still donate here.