STUDENTS at a North Yorkshire college have all pulled together to raise funds for a holistic charity that helped one of their teachers to beat cancer.
Year 10 pupils at Northallerton College took part in a host of sponsored sports events including tug-of-war, Frisbee, five-a-side football, tennis and inter-form activities to collect £200 for the Trinity Holistic Centre.
The centre, based at The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, supports patients diagnosed with cancer and their carers offering a variety of therapies, services and wellbeing projects.
Northallerton College PE teacher Alastair Macrae praised the work of the charity that cared for him after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2007.
“The staff at The Trinity Holistic centre made an unbelievable difference to me during my time in hospital,” said Alastair.
“Having cancer is as much a physical battle as it is psychological. I still tried to keep active but it helped so much having someone in the hospital just to talk to, to offer support and help with relaxation therapies.”
Having completed a gruelling triathlon in September 2006, Alastair, then aged 38, noticed a sudden drop in his fitness levels.
“I was also losing weight, feeling lethargic and getting severe abdominal pains,” he said.
In January 2007 a blood test at the Friarage Hospital and a scan confirmed Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, which affects more than 1,600 people in the UK every year.
Undergoing his initial chemotherapy treatment at The Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, Alastair was offered the services of the Trinity Holistic Centre by head of complementary therapies Kathryn Almond.
“I’d always been open minded about alternative therapies,” he said. “So when I was receiving my chemotherapy Kathryn would come in and give me an aromatherapy treatment, just to help me relax, and she would also treat my wife to give us that extra bit of support.”
After six months of treatment, and with his cancer still active, Alasdair was given intensive chemotherapy at James Cook Hospital and continued to receive his holistic therapies once a week.
In January 2008, he was put in remission after receiving a stem cell transplant at The Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, and underwent his last radiotherapy treatment in the March just a week before celebrating his 40th birthday.
“I couldn’t fault the medical care I received throughout my treatment,” said Alastair. “But without the extra support I received from Kathryn and the team I think I would have found it a lot harder.”
The money raised by the students will be used to help provide additional therapies to patients including acupuncture and aromatherapy and to support wellbeing projects and support groups including a community garden and photography class.
“Cancer affects one in three families and I am extremely grateful to all the students who have done an amazing job raising so much money,” said Kathryn.
“Each year we need to find over £250,000 to run the centre and the more money we receive the more patients and carers we can support.”
To donate to the Trinity Holistic Centre Charitable Trust contact (01642) 555555.
