2024 will be the 4th year where A Goldstitch Christmas has, in our own small way, tried to spread a little bit of festive magic and Christmas spirit to people who may need a helping hand when times are tough.
Since we started fundraising in 2021, we’ve been able to reach out to and, hopefully, positively affect the lives of hundreds of people with the donations that we have been able to make. We wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without the support that we have personally received from family, friends, colleagues, musical legends, local businesses and the random acts of kindness from strangers (or friends that we haven’t met yet).
It was really important to me that when I was diagnosed with cancer, for the second time, in 2021, that I wasn’t going to let it ruin my life. I mean, not immediately anyway. When people say that they want to turn a negative into a positive, it sounds like a cliché, but that was my first thought. Well, not exactly my thought…that was probably something like…shiiiiiit! But it was probably in my top ten thoughts at least.
I’ve shared more than enough stories about how A Goldstitch Christmas came about, and I’m not going to stop now either. Just in case somebody new happens across this post and they then feel inclined to follow our social media pages or subscribe to the blog. The more people who know about us, the more money we can raise and the more joy we can spread.
So, basically, my story is this…
In 2018 I was diagnosed bowel cancer, had surgery to remove a third of my bowel, together with a golf ball sized tumour, and then had four cycles of chemotherapy. During treatment we ran World Cup Sweepstake and opened a JustGiving page that helped us to raise £400 that we donated to Bowel Cancer UK and Help Harry Help Others. After my treatment had finished, I was given the all clear and carried on with life as though nothing had happened.
However, after a routine scan in 2021, all that changed. The scan had discovered an anomaly, my lymph nodes were enlarged around my bowel and, apparently, that wasn’t a good thing. Multiple tests followed; blood tests, CT scans, PET-CT scans, an endoscopy, a colonoscopy, and then finally a surgical biopsy. The results from the biopsy confirmed that the cancer had returned.
My treatment options were limited due to the nature of the cancer and I started a two-year course of immunotherapy in October 2021. The drug was fairly new to the NHS, COVID had played a part in making it more readily accessible apparently, and as the only other option was crossing my fingers and hoping for the best, I thought I’d give it a go.
The drug is designed to help the body’s immune system target the cancer cells and keep them at bay, and it has been doing its job quite nicely. Treatment stopped last October and my body is carrying on the fight. So far, so good.
When I started my treatment, the fundraising began.
The idea was initially to raise a little bit of money to put together some Christmas dinner packages that could be delivered to our local food bank. I love Christmastime and it’s definitely the season for spreading some extra love, joy and festive spirit. That year we were blown away by the support that we received from friends, family, colleagues, local business and random strangers and were able to do so much more than we could’ve imagined.
That support has continued as we move towards our fourth Christmas and we couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who has contributed. The true magic of the festive season working like a Hallmark Christmas film. Which, incidentally, was where I came up with the name of our endeavour. I thought it sounded like a Christmas movie, especially if you add “…at Reindeer Lodge”.
From the money that has been donated, to the raffle and auction prizes, the toys, games and books, the cakes that were baked and not forgetting the videos that had been recorded for us too by The Hoosiers, Kimberley Nixon, Martin Harley and the legend that is Noddy Holder, amongst others. Our thanks go out to everybody, we appreciate it more than we could possibly express.
As I mentioned at the start, this will be our fourth Christmas, and our aim for this year is for our donations to exceed £1700 so that we can smash the £10,000 mark. Our fundraising has been modest, we’re not reaching Captain Tom heights just yet, but we’re also not building a spa in our back garden either, so it’s swings and roundabouts really.
We’ve already received some generous donations, and have recently run a Euro 2024 competition, but we have quite a way to go to reach our target. Your help again this year would be massively appreciated and would go a long way to making Christmas a little easier this year for people going through difficult times. This year we will be donating to:
- The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust – Treliske Paediatric Ward
- St Petrocs
- Hayle Food Bank
- The Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club
- Children’s Hospice South West
The links to our donations page can be found below, together with a direct link to the JustGiving page. We will also be putting together some A Goldstitch Christmas merch again, including t-shirts, mugs, pens, decorations and anything else that we can think of, don’t forget to like and subscribe so that you don’t miss out on anything mind-blowingly amazing.
We’re always open to ideas about different ways that we can bring in donations or spread the word, so we’d love to hear from anybody that might be able to help us going forward. The ambition would be for A Goldstitch Christmas to grow and help more and more people, not just locally, but further afield too, and any help in doing that would be greatly appreciated.
I’m already thinking about next year too, when A Goldstitch Christmas will be celebrating its fifth year, and I would love to do something special to mark the occasion. I’ve got one or two ideas at the moment, but let’s see what happens.
So, in summary, A Goldstitch Christmas is well and truly open for donations, and we’re well and truly appreciative to everyone who has been able to donate in the past and will be donating in the future. I’ve seen firsthand how important it is, just showing a small amount of kindness can make a real difference to somebody in a difficult spot or going through tough times.
Thank you all again for your continued support, it really does mean a lot. And if you could share the mother-loving heck out of this post we would really appreciate it!
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If you would like to contact us to discuss any ways that you may be able to help with our fundraising, or any suggestions, please complete the form below or send an email to goldstitch@agoldstitchchristmas.com
