The actor Stephen Fry has lent his support to a Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) Special Named Fund by voicing a new audiobook released to raise funds for research into rhabdomyosarcoma.
Proceeds from the sale of the new children’s story ‘The Unicorn who saved Christmas’ will support Super Ruby’s Rhabdo Raiser, which raises much-needed funds for research into the soft tissue cancer in memory of six-year old Ruby Stewart.
Ruby was diagnosed with stage four alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma in 2017, and despite undergoing intense treatment including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she passed away in January 2020, two weeks before her seventh birthday.
Her mum and dad, Claire and Andy, along with their supporters, have so far raised an incredible £170,000 and now they hope to add to that total with sales from the audiobook, written by family friend and neighbour Derek Sword and inspired by Ruby’s trip to Lapland in December 2019.
Derek said: “The story is about a young unicorn called Ruby who goes to visit Santa in Lapland and jumps at the chance to help Santa deliver the presents to the boys and girls all over the world when she hears that one of Santa's reindeer is unwell.
“I wrote the story with Ruby in mind and hopefully it highlights her spirit, her never give up attitude, the fact that she never complained and always wanted to help others no matter how poorly she was, while still being just a little girl at heart.
“Claire and Andy took Ruby to visit Santa in Lapland, which was such a great adventure for her, and I felt that I wanted to add something else to the story and create another adventure.
“Ruby was very poorly at the time of writing, and I hoped it would give her a bit of a lift, but it wasn't until quite a while later that I thought I'd like to try and use it to raise money for Ruby's fund.”
Claire said: “Ruby loved everything about Christmas and our trip to Lapland is something we’ll never forget.
“To have that trip turned into a story and now an audiobook is absolutely brilliant, and it really captures the spirit of Ruby.
“Ruby would have loved to be a unicorn for a day and help Santa deliver all the presents.
“She’d also love that something so brilliant had been done not only for her, but for all of the other children who need a cure for rhabdomyosarcoma.”
Speaking on Mr Fry’s contribution, Derek said: “Stephen is known as one of the best audiobook narrators in the world having narrated all the Harry Potter books and the works of Sherlock Holmes and brings a wealth of experience to the book.
“To have him narrate this book for us is just incredible. I am over the moon.”
Claire added that Fry is “probably the most famous and definitely the most gifted narrator in the world” and that his “storytelling really brings the words to life”.
‘The Unicorn who saved Christmas’ is not the first tale that story-loving Ruby has inspired. In fact, in 2019, Ruby even helped write and edit ‘The Unicorn with The Ruby Horn’, which tells a story about unicorns, being different, acceptance and diversity.
That storybook was illustrated by Eileen McGinley, who has provided the accompanying artwork for the new audiobook.
Eileen commented: “I feel really emotional and honoured to be asked to do the illustration again.
“It’s so important for me to continue to support the fund as childhood cancer desperately requires funding, research and awareness.
“It’s a cause close to my heart.”
Claire thanked all those involved for their support and said that she hopes people can share in the story’s positivity while helping raise funds for rhabdomyosarcoma research.
She said: “We couldn’t be more grateful. Time is precious and for them all to put aside the other things they could be doing in their lives to support this project is really special.
“We’d love it to be downloaded hundreds of times so that people can share the joy and help children with cancer at the same time.”
‘The Unicorn who saved Christmas’ is available now from CCLG’s online shop, priced at £5.