Isobel De-Koning’s family and friends raise over £58,000 for The Christie Hospital.
When Isobel De-Koning suffered a return of the Hodgkin Lymphoma she had previously defeated, her family and friends came together not only to support Isobel through her treatment, but to raise funds for Manchester’s The Christie Hospital who were looking after her.
Isobel was first diagnosed with the cancer at the age of 17 and after battling the disease she was able to celebrate her 18th birthday and the successful completion of treatment.
By the age of 26, Isobel was engaged to Lewis Ayres, with a wedding booked for April 2024 in Ireland and a house bought and being renovated. In March 2024 and the week of her hen night, after feeling unwell and detecting a lump in her throat Isobel received the devastating news that the disease had returned. Treatment had to resume urgently.
With wedding plans on hold, fiancé Lewis decided he was going to run the Manchester marathon to raise as much money as he could for The Christie. Very quickly, other family members signed up to join him, with Isobel’s sisters-in-law McKenzie and Maddison De-Koning and cousins Laramie Leach, James de-Koning and Skye Harrison, along with her boyfriend Cameron Larkin. Team Isobel was born.
Laramie Leach told World’s Fair: “We trained and trained whenever we could and it was HARD! None of us were sporty or runners or overly active outside of work. But we were determined to support Isobel and raise money for the people in the departments trying daily to save our loved ones.”
What Isobel herself was going through motivated the team. Laramie said: “Most runs, when feeling like I couldn’t do it anymore and wanted to give up, I just told myself it’s nothing compared to what Isobel’s going through, she can’t just stop or give up so why do I think I can. I can’t. And we all felt the same.”
The fund gets going
As Showmen so often do, they stepped up with encouragement for the team and help with fundraising, donating money, prizes for a raffle at Hull Fair and Nottingham Goose Fair (raising £17,025 to get the fund going) and further raffles over Christmas and winter. Pretty quickly the £30,000 target was reached.
Meanwhile, Isobel’s treatment was continuing and after completing two rounds of chemotherapy, she was preparing for the third round. But before that started there was to be a four-week gap and then, if everything went to plan and the treatment worked, the next step would be a stem cell transplant.
It was a busy four weeks. Isobel and Lewis announced “We’re getting married” and two weeks later they tied the knot in their local church, with celebrations in their local pub, 12 months after they were supposed to be married. “It was fantastic”, Laramie said. “We have all never been so happy to see two people get married and have their day”.
The newly-weds even managed to squeeze in their dream honeymoon in America, returning just in time to start the season at Prestatyn Easter Fair, with further monies raised from a raffle at the Central Beach Club, popular with the Showmen, taking the pot to over £40,000.
Marathon month
Whilst at Prestatyn, the team managed a “hard” 20-mile run along the coast there. The day of the marathon, 27 April arrives to blazing sunshine. Lots of supporters turned up to cheer on the team from the sidelines, including Isobel who had now finished her third round of treatment and was waiting to see if it had worked. It was “tense times” says Laramie.
But Team Isobel got on with the job in hand and all seven of them completed the 26.2 miles, crossing the line to receive their well-deserved medals. The donations didn’t stop with the marathon, however, and money continued to flow in, bringing the amount raised for Team Isobel @ The Christie to £58,300!
A couple of days after the marathon, Isobel received the great news that the chemotherapy had worked and she could go on to stem cell transplant treatment.
Laramie Leach told World’s Fair: “We as Team Isobel and all of the De-Koning Family wish to thank each and every one of you for the support, the donations, the well wishes, the calls, the texts, the Facebook comments etc; none of it gets missed or unnoticed.”
Well done to Team Isobel and we wish Isobel well as she progresses her treatment.
