Our beautiful daughter Isabel was a lively, bright 6 year old when she was diagnosed as suffering from a brain stem glioma. This was a complete shock to us as she had always been very healthy and active, enjoying horse riding, swimming, singing and dancing. She attended a local drama group and loved being in the spot light. She also loved school and had a great enthusiasm for learning, but also relished the social side of school. She was always surrounded by friends and enjoyed a constant round of parties! At home Isabel loved playing with her older brother and sister on the computer, looking after her many pets and spending family time together on days out at the zoo or theme parks, and especially holidays.
Following her diagnosis Isabel underwent a course of radiotherapy, and appeared to respond very well. She continued to attend school in the afternoons during this period, and she enjoyed weekends away with her family. She returned to school full-time when her treatment ended, her mobility improved and we were very optimistic that Isabel was on her way to beating this awful disease. Isabel settled back into school life, and continued to excel, she attended drama club and Brownies and for a while life seemed to get back to normal. Sadly only two months later Isabel’s symptoms returned and we were devastated to be told there was now no hope of a cure. Isabel was offered palliative chemotherapy to control her symptoms, and as this was given orally we were able to keep Isabel’s life as normal as possible. It was vital that we made the most of the time we had left, and we proceeded to organise a summer of various holidays and excursions. Isabel enjoyed this immensely, particularly her trips to Euro Disney and Spain with the whole family. Iz also enjoyed a camping trip with friends and the opportunity to attend Brownie camp. This was in late September by which time her mobility was deteriorating but it was lovely to see her joining in all the activities and giggling with the other girls in the dormitory.
Isabel never complained about her illness, she was always determined not to let it stop her in any way, and despite by now walking with great difficulty she continued to pursue all her interests, including appearing in a local drama production in late October, singing as solo and bringing the house down! At the beginning of November Isabel suffered 3 seizures which resulted in her spending time in intensive care, and although she did recover enough to be discharged home a week later she was now unable to walk. Amazingly she took this in her stride and returned to school in a wheelchair. Even though her physical condition was now deteriorating very quickly she remained bright and cheerful to the end. Isabel died peacefully in our arms on 3rd December 2008, just weeks away from her eighth birthday and 13 months after her diagnosis. She was an exceptional person who loved life, people and had a great sense of humour touching everyone who knew her. We are all now finding it terribly difficult to live our lives without her.
This fund set up through SDBTT has already become a way that we are able to celebrate and remember our lovely daughter. Our family, friends and Isabel’s friends want to support the trust through events that will raise money and awareness in order to contribute to the research that we hope will one day beat this disease. We raised over £2600 immediately following Isabel’s death and have just held our first organised event – a live music evening at our local pub where we raised a further £900
Fundraising update Summer 2009
First of all thanks so much to everyone who have supported us over the last 9 months. It has been a difficult time but your thoughts and efforts have helped and been much appreciated.
There are many people who have helped us this year but particular thanks must go to the following people:
Nathan Clays Jones: Nathan asked our local secondary school Mossley Hollins if they would split their comic relief fund raising with Isabel’s fund which they kindly did.
Nick Higgins: Nick made sure the proceeds from The Ashton Sixth Form College Valentines disco he organised went to Isabel’s fund. Thanks Nick
Margerie Nield: Isabel was a member of the Margerie Nield school of dance. They hold shows every year. This year Margerie has kindly donated all proceeds from one of her shows to the fund. Thank you to Margerie and everyone who took part.
As promised we (Alison, Dave, Daniel and Lizzie) all took part in the Manchester 10km on 17th May and it was a great day if a little wet! Thank you everyone who did the run with us, Julie, Jenny, Nathan, and everyone connected to Livingstone School, the where Isabel spent four very happy years. Thanks to all our sponsors.
Walk over Scafell and Scafell Pike
Mel Noble: Thanks to Mel for the music events she has organised up to now and hopefully in the future.
Howard and Sandra Bee: Thanks to our friends the Bees and the Dewhursts who walked over Scafell and Scafell Pike with us in June. A lovely day if a little challenging!
British Gas: Thanks to everyone at British Gas Central Heating Installations. Sponsoring us and charity days have raised fantastic amounts of money. Particular thanks must go to Sales Team who raised a fantastic £2400 with a raffle they held.
I am still not sure what the exact figure we have raised so far this year is just yet but it is definitely in excess of £14000 and potentially a good deal higher. I will provide a further update in the autumn where hopefully I will be able to say we are well on the way to beating the £20,000 we set ourselves for this year. On the subject of not knowing how much we have raised, if you are raising money please either pay your fundraising directly into the trust via cheques made out to SDBTT Isabel Rigby Fund, or contact us (Dave or Alison via e mail address below) and we will gladly relieve you of the money and ensure it gets paid into Isabel’s fund. We thank you all so much for your efforts so far and in anticipation of future events.
Research being funded by you
In discussion with the trust we have decided to allocate the funds to research into treatments for high grade glioma paediatric brain tumours at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. Your contributions have played a significant part in making in this research happen.
We have more plans for fundraising this year and into the New Year!
A bike ride in September with a number of friends still haven’t finalised where but it will be long way! This will be a good build up to a possible Tour De France stage next year…..
Some of Dave’s colleagues at work are participating in September’s Berlin Marathon for Isabel.
There’s a fundraising event at the Masonic hall in Mossley on the 19th September. Fun events for children during the day and entertainment and supper in the evening.
Thanks to Kath Smith for organising this
Patrick Hand and a friend are planning to raise money through participating in a tough guy event in February.
Alison and friends are planning a 3 lake swim in the lake district next year.
And we are hopeful that the Manchester 10km will become a yearly event for our family and friends to participate in.
I have no doubt there will be plenty more and if you are planning something please let us know and we will let everyone know about it. We can be contacted at m0ssley-rigbys@tiscali.co.uk (the 0 in Mossley is a zero!)
THANK YOU ALL
Dave, Alison, Daniel and Lizzie
