Fundraising in memory of a south London teenager has now raised more than £250,000 for research into children’s blood cancer.
Ruby Fuller was 17 when she was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic non-Hodgkin lymphoma in July 2019.
She passed away in May 2020 aged 18, and before she died, Ruby left a list of ways that family and friends could remember her by, which embodied her caring and compassionate nature. This list included celebrating kindness and calling out injustice by sharing her motto, ‘Live kindly, live loudly’, far and wide and helping other young cancer patients through fundraising for research.
This inspired her parents, Emma and Dylan, and sister Tabitha, to set up Ruby’s Live Kindly Live Loudly Fund, a Special Named Fund at Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG), to raise much-needed funds for research into T-cell lymphoma and leukaemia.
The family has seen huge support since it was set up, with much of the fundraising having been hugely influenced by Ruby’s passions, interests and personality, which Emma said is incredibly important to her.
She said:
It means people are still thinking of her and remembering her. That's as much of the driver as the raising money. It's just really comforting and heartwarming to know there's something positive and something tangible that's being done in Ruby's memory.
And we can never have too much kindness in the world. More of that is always good.
She added: “Ruby would be so chuffed and so touched by everybody's efforts and would so be cheering them on.
“They're all fantastic. A huge thank you to all of them. they're helping to make to make the world a better place. They’re all heroes.”
Thanks to their fundraising, CCLG has been able to fund several new research projects that will further understanding of childhood blood cancer and lead to more effective treatments. Last summer, Emma and Tabitha had the opportunity to visit one of the research teams, which, Emma said, has helped in communicating to their supporters that the funds they’ve helped raise are being invested in only the highest-quality research.
Emma explained:
It's really lovely to be able to show our supporters what's happening because I think often you donate to something and you kind of trust that it will be spent as intended. But to be able to go back to people and say, ‘this is made possible by your support’, that's so nice, and I think that's one of the things I love about the CCLG Special Named Fund model.
The family and their supporters are determined to keep fundraising, with the aim of eventually raising £500,000 in Ruby’s name. They are hosting an online auction in October to mark what should have been Ruby’s 23rd birthday, and this Saturday, 14 September, Emma and 11 of her colleagues at Ashden, a climate action charity based in Victoria, take on the Thames Bridge Trek, which will see them walk 25km across 16 of London's historic bridges and pass by several of the city’s iconic landmarks.
Beginning at Putney Bridge and ending at Tower Bridge, Emma said the challenge is something that Ruby, as a proud Londoner who shared her mother’s love of bridges, would have approved of.
Emma said: “I'm a huge bridge geek. I love bridges and how they're made and different types, and I think she got a bit of that from me. On holiday we'd go and check out different bridges.
“Going through the different bridges of London, for almost all of them, I can draw up a happy memory of doing something with Ruby. So, it'll be a really nice, quite emotional, way of spending the day raising money for her fund, almost spending a day with her and remembering all those moments on those bridges.
“She was London born and bred and passionate about the city. So, London-based challenges are really special. She'd have loved this.”
Ahead of the challenge, Emma and the team will be painting pebbles adorned with Ruby’s name and motto, to carry on a practice that has helped the live kindly, live loudly message travel far and wide.
Emma explained:
People have been taking them with them on their travels. We've had live kindly, live loudly pebbles in Australia, America, Bali, India, Indonesia, all over Europe, all over the UK. We've got one going to Pakistan.
The idea was that people might pick them up and then share them online, share the motto. One was taken by Dr Lisa Russell, who heads the research team at Newcastle University that was awarded a CCLG grant from Ruby’s fund to a paediatric leukaemia conference in Italy, where it was handed on to another researcher to continue its journey around the world.
It's taking a bit of Ruby's spirit with you. We're doing a pebble-painting session with Ashden so we can leave a pebble on each bridge with her motto and leave a little bit of Ruby on each one as well.
If you're wandering along a path, and you bend down and pick up a pebble that says, ‘live kindly, live loudly’, it's just a nice little message to intrude into your day.
Lizzie Goates, CCLG’s Community and Corporates Fundraising Manager, said: “We’d like wish Emma and the Ashden team good luck for the Thames Bridge Trek on Saturday, and to also say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported Ruby’s fund.
“Your incredible efforts are helping us to change the future for children with blood cancer.”
When donating, sponsors can comment their favourite London bridge to have a chance to win a painting of that bridge by artist Stewart Walton.