A mum whose son underwent more than three years of treatment for leukaemia conquered her fear of heights to raise funds for much-needed research into the disease.
Gemma Hebbron scaled the UK’s tallest sculpture, the 80 metre-high ArcelorMittal Orbit in London, for Thomas Fight TALL, a Special Named Fund at Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) that raises money for research into childhood leukaemias.
Gemma, 39, set up the fund after her son, Thomas, was diagnosed with T-Cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (TALL) when he was just five years old in February 2019.
Though he is now in remission, Thomas, nine, faced three-and-a-half years of chemotherapy, and endured a multitude of side effects as a result, including heart problems, difficulty eating by himself, losing the ability to walk for several months, sickness and weight gain caused by steroids.
Having seen the impact that Thomas’s gruelling treatment had on him, Gemma was determined to help other children with cancer in the future, by fundraising for research into finding kinder, more effective therapies.
Along with Thomas and their supporters she has so far raised £7,000, boosted by donations of more than £750 from the abseil, which helped her fulfil her goal of raising money by doing something that would help her overcome something she is afraid of – in her case, heights.
Gemma, whose partner, Steve Clappison, also took on the challenge, said that though she felt major anxiety before it, she knew that nothing could be as scary as her son’s diagnosis. Having seen Thomas come through his treatment, she said she was prepared to overcome anything she was afraid of.
She said:
It was scary doing it, and I felt so relieved after. I cried at the bottom [of the sculpture] - I was like, ‘my God, I've done it!’.
I'm 40 this year and I've lived pretty much within my comfort zone the whole time, never really done anything that I'm really scared of.
But being told that your child has cancer and they’d need to start treatment immediately, that was the scariest thing that I've ever had to face. When you've been told this, you have absolutely no idea what's going to happen, zero control.
So now, for anything else, it just feels like, ‘it is what it is’.
Gemma live streamed her event so that a proud Thomas, watching with his grandma, could see her face her fears.
She explained:
When I spoke to Thomas after, he told me I ‘did good’.
I had to show him that you can do anything, even things you're scared of. I honestly think he didn't think I'd do it, but I knew he was watching, so not doing it wasn’t an option, especially with the amount of support we’ve had.
Alongside other CCLG Special Named Funds, Thomas Fight TALL has helped fund vital new research that will help deepen doctors’ understanding of children’s leukaemias and, ultimately, lead to more effective and less debilitating treatments, something which is very important to Gemma.
She said:
I hope that someday there is a treatment that will give children the cure they need without all the side effects.
I''ve seen what the treatment has done to Thomas. So many times, Thomas said to me that he thought medicine was supposed to make you feel better, but I had to explain that sometimes it makes you poorly as well.
So, I'm hoping someday there's a treatment out there that isn't as damning to children.
Lizzie Goates, Fundraising Manager Community & Corporates at CCLG, said:
We’d like to say a huge well done and thank you to Gemma and Steve, and in particular Gemma for her incredible bravery in conquering her fears – she was amazing!
Thanks to their continued efforts and those of our other amazing Special Named Funds, we are able to keep funding pioneering research that will help us to one day reach our goal of a world where every child with cancer survives and lives long, happy and healthy lives.