A beach walk from Burnham-On-Sea to Brean and back is to be held this month to raise funds for overseas treatment for a young local cancer sufferer.
As reported here, Jack Gyde, 5, has been diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk Neuroblastoma after initially suffering pain in January.
Parents Sarah Mackey and Ben Gyde have received a huge amount of support since starting their online fundraising page to raise £250,000, with half the amount now raised.
A fundraising wild west themed beach walk is to be held from Burnham-On-Sea to Brean and back on Sunday 30th June. There will be a £5 charge and sponsor forms will be available.
Walkers will be encouraged to wear cowboy hats, gathering at Burnham jetty from 9.30am and the walk will start at 10am.
Jack’s fundraising campaign has received 2,100 donations amounting to over £120,000 so far and have also received celebrity shares on social media from Lord Sugar, Piers Morgan and Ronnie O’Sullivan among others.
Talking to Burnham-On-Sea.com, Sarah says they are “overwhelmed” with the support of the local community.
She adds: “We’ve raised over £120,000, so we are nearly half way, which is amazing considering we only started at the end of February.”
“We are extremely grateful for all the community and local businesses that have, and continue to, support Jack. He gets recognised now if we are out locally.”
“Our buckets in the local pubs and shops are doing well and we appreciate everyone who drops money in them.”
She adds that there is positive news on Jack’s progress: “He is doing well, having completed eight rounds of induction chemotherapy, a stem cell harvest and has had surgery to remove his tumour.”
“At the end of this month he will start high-dose chemotherapy and the stem cell transplant which will be a long hospital stay.”
The next main fundraising events will be a Wild West Beach Walk on June 30th, then a charity single coming out in the middle of July.
See Jack’s fundraising page here.
