One of the highlights of volunteering with Dream-A-Way is the opportunity to meet some truly inspiring and brave people. Below is a letter from one such person, Martin Lynn of Exeter (Lynny to his friends) who found out about us via FORCE Cancer Charity and has demonstrated what it means to keep battling and never give up…
Hi Jeff and the rest of the amazing Dream-A-Way team,
I was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 with a rare T Cell lymphoma which unfortunately spread into my lymph nodes and in 2010 I was staged at 4a with a typical prognosis of 18 months’ survival. I refused to accept that and carried on with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, clinical trials, and it was decided that I required a bone marrow transplant in April 2016 with severe risks of mortality – my options were running out, so we went for it. I’m not one to shirk a challenge and this was the biggest challenge of my life!
We got through it with some snags post-transplant and after a traumatic year I was fit enough to travel to Lanzarote for a week with my girlfriend and my son Harrison last November. It was simply incredible to go from one extreme to another. In April 2016 I was pretty much fighting for my life in a transplant unit in Hammersmith and by November I was looking out to a beautiful sunset in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote (and yes there were tears). No email or thank you could describe how much this meant to us all, we laughed constantly, and to think that this was all thanks to Dream-A-Way and your brilliant supporters. If I’m being honest I felt a little guilty about receiving the gift of a holiday but on reflection I suppose I’ve had a pretty tricky time (along with my loved ones of course).
I’m sure that in the future I’ll be able to help you with some of your fundraising events. I’m quite blessed to have a magical circle of friends and a mobile phone full of good contacts. If everyone helped each other in this world wouldn’t it be an amazing place to live.
Thank you so much team Dream-A-Way for an incredible experience – long live the fez!
Martin xx
