A kind-hearted man was inspired by the story of a leukaemia survivor to contribute to the fundraising efforts of a Wrexham restaurant.
Alan Griffiths donated £400 on behalf of his work colleagues at JCB after he read about brave Delyth Bolton, 44, who beat the disease as a child.
He is supporting Frankie and Benny’s at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre in their drive to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.
The Eagles Meadow branch of the Italian-American restaurant have raised £1,400 through various fundraising efforts, including charity breakfasts, fancy dress, and going out with collection buckets.
Machinist Alan, 59, from Wrexham, was touched by Delyth’s story because JCB colleague John Spoor, 54, has been diagnosed with the condition and has been off work for months.
Thankfully John, from Wrexham, is making a recovery and is due to be back in work as soon as he gets the all clear from the doctor. Alan regularly raises money for various causes with his work pals with a football pontoon.
Alan said: “After hearing Delyth’s story I had a word with John and I thought it would be nice to donate the money from the pontoon on his behalf. The money raised will go to help people like Delyth and John.”
Mum of one Delyth has a 12-year-old daughter called Freya with her husband, Andrew.
But things looked bleak when Delyth was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia at the tender age of three.
Delyth recalled: “The side effects were terrible. There was losing my hair, throwing up, ulcers, that sort of thing.
“It really affected the immune system. I remember other children having mumps and I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere near them, and play with them, so there was a lot of isolation at the time when I was going through a lot of the treatment.
“I had chemotherapy and radiotherapy and numerous drugs. I didn’t know any different. At that age you don’t realise.”
Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research is dedicated to improving the lives of patients with all types of blood cancer, including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
Delyth, whose dedicated mum Mary raised more than £300,000 for the cause over the years with a group of pals, was delighted to meet up with Alan at Frankie and Benny’s at Eagles Meadow to hear about the fundraising efforts.
She said: “£400 is a lot of money. It’s fabulous.
“It’s an issue that touches a lot of peoples. In the past leukaemia wasn’t really known about as a cause. But now it’s much better known because people have been raising awareness about it. When a person has leukaemia it doesn’t just affect them but also their family and friends.”
She added: “I’m still alive because people have put money into research. People are donating phenomenal amounts these days.
“This money does make a real difference. Everything helps with leukaemia research and they’re always doing clinical trials and there are new advances with the treatments.
“Over the years it’s progressed massively because 25 years ago not many people would have come through at the other end.
“I was one of the lucky ones, because now days the treatment can target the damaged cells.
“When I was going through my treatment it was targeting all of my cells.
“I didn’t know if I could have kids because of the treatment. It was a little bit of a miracle I had Freya and I was absolutely thrilled.
“They’d never had anyone who had recovered who had gone on to have children because in those days the survival rate was so low. The treatment has improved a lot since then. It’s a cause that’s really close to my heart. I had to have regular checks for years and I was only fully discharged two years ago.
Peter Cross, the Manager of Frankie and Benny’s at Eagles Meadow, said: “Every year Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research prevent more and more people from dying of blood cancer and their researchers are working as hard as they can to stop people developing this horrible disease in the first place.
“They also work to improve the lives of patients already suffering from cancers such as leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma because they believe everyone should be able to live their life to the full.”
