Paul McGeary’s tireless campaign to raise money and awareness for blood charity Bloodwise took a huge step towards breaking through the £40,000 mark with a recent hamper raffle organised by his mother, Mary Warke.
Paul was 33 when he was diagnosed with Leukaemia five years ago, and despite being in remission for 15 initial months, he sadly relapsed and had to undergo a second period of intense chemotherapy in July 2016.
Thankfully Paul has now been in remission for two years as his fundraising has grown speed.
Newtonian Mary has held a series of successful events this year, the latest being a wine and spirits hamper raffle which raised £1000, with the assistance of her friends Marie and Dave Nicholson.
Paul said, “Once again the efforts of my mother and her friends has exceeded my expectations. To raise £1000 at this time of year is a remarkable effort, and testament to the hard work of all involved.”
Collections at the recent funeral of John Cross – grandfather of Paul’s partner Emma Cross – took the total to the brink of surpassing the milestone with Paul now appealing once more in the tradition which started the whole campaign five years ago.
“I had a vision of raising £1500 while I was bed-bound in James Cook hospital over Christmas in 2014,” said Paul.
“I asked people to save themselves from buying and writing Christmas cards, and donate to Bloodwise instead. Little did I know back then how far things would snowball.
“So I ask once more, for anyone who would rather donate to a charity in lieu of sending Christmas cards, that they do so to Bloodwise via our #NotOneInch link at www.JustGiving.com/Paul-McGeary2
“And once we go through the £40,000 barrier, then it’d be remiss of us to not start our crusade towards £50,000 in 2020. Together we will beat Blood Cancer.”