A FATHER inspired by his daughter’s positivity during a devastating cancer journey is taking on his own challenge to raise vital funds for a charity that has supported his family.
Ian Adkins, 55, from Duek Crescent in Corsham, is cycling 100 miles in the Ride London Challenge on Sunday, August 4.
He’s doing it in aid of CLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading cancer charity for children and young people, and so far he has raised more than £2,000.
His daughter Tasha, 23, was first diagnosed with melanoma in 2010, when she was just 14 years old.
What followed has been a nine-year journey for the family with crushing setbacks, a beautiful wedding to her husband Oscar Perkins, and incredible positivity in the face of cancer.
Ian said: “Tasha was first diagnosed when she had a mole on her arm and so we took her to the GP as it just didn’t look right. He said he had never heard of a case of melanoma in a teenager, but Tasha had a biopsy which confirmed it was cancer.
“At the time, there were no effective treatments for melanoma – it was all palliative. If you read the statistics, 95 per cent of people diagnosed with Tasha’s type of cancer didn’t live beyond a year. But Tasha was one of the first on a combined immunotherapy treatment and the first round of it worked. Without that treatment she wouldn’t be with us now.”
However the melanoma tragically returned when Tasha was 17, and again when she was 20.
“The last time the melanoma returned, it was stage four and Tasha had tumours all around her body. She’s had so many side effects and issues.
“She has had gastritis, meningitis, a blood clot in her leg, a toe and part of her foot amputated, two tumours in her brain and one in her spine. The spinal tumour bled requiring emergency spinal surgery and her having to learn to walk again following paralysis.
“One of the brain tumours also bled leaving her with stroke-like symptoms. It was miraculous that she survived it. But early this year the doctors told us her immunotherapy treatment wasn’t working and decided to stop it. They told Tasha to enjoy the rest of her life.”
Earlier this year, Tasha and her boyfriend Oscar, who she had met on a vegan dating site a year earlier, decided to get married.
Ian said: “Tasha got married in a registry office just four days after her brain surgery. She had a beautiful white wedding celebration on a gloriously sunny and happy day in February. It was an amazing day. It was an immensely happy, but also emotional day.”
Ian said it was a fully vegan wedding supported by Gift of a Wedding, a charity that helps terminally ill young adults get married. He gave an emotional father of the bride speech where he thanked Oscar for his incredible support.
Throughout her treatment, Tasha hasn’t let her diagnosis define her. Tasha achieved a 2:1 degree in drama and now lives in her own flat with Oscar and their puppy Pixie.
The family hope that a trial Tasha has now been accepted on will be successful. “We are just nervously waiting and hoping she will be well enough to do the trial.
“She is so positive. Normally she is just worried about everyone else but herself. She is amazing. She never complains and just gets on with it and is so incredibly stoic.”
Tasha received the majority of her treatment at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, over an hour and half and 73 miles away from the family’s homes. Throughout her treatment, the family have been supported by CLIC Sargent.
“We first had contact with CLIC Sargent the day after Tasha was told she had cancer. Our social worker Mark was a friendly face at a difficult time.”
The family were able to stay at CLIC Sargent’s Home from Home in Oxford, which provides free accommodation close to the hospital for families.
Ian added: “It was at the CLIC house that I saw how much the charity does. The thing that has really struck me about being a parent of a child with cancer, is how lonely the experience can be.
“CLIC Sargent understands the quiet desperation of parents and helps families as much as the young people themselves. They understand that it is not just the emotional impact, but the additional costs of repeated hospital trips, lost earnings, and the need to look after the sick child’s siblings as well as elderly parents. I simply can’t say how valuable that support is.”
Ian said he has emotionally struggled to deal with the impact of Tasha’s journey. He said as well as seeing a counsellor, cycling has helped him to cope – which is why he decided to sign up to the Ride London challenge to raise funds for CLIC Sargent.
“Emotionally I have been in a very bleak place and so I needed to do something positive for my own sanity. And so I decided to sign up for Ride London.
“I wanted to focus on the fundraising and Tasha and do something good and positive – and it’s been really quite therapeutic. I’ve now raised £2,000 and it’s just one week to the challenge. I’m feeling incredibly nervous!”
Sarah Manion, CLIC Sargent’s Sports and Challenge Events Manager, said: “We are so in awe of Ian’s incredible dedication and commitment to raise vital funds for CLIC Sargent and grateful. We will be there on the day cheering him all the way to the finish line!”
To sponsor Ian’s challenge, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/teamtasha4younglives
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