Hello all,

I’m writing to give a brief (i’ll try!) update on Bessie’s progress.

First, we’d like to say the world’s biggest THANK YOU to all of you lovely folk who’ve helped us along our path this year. The magnitude of support surpasses anything we thought possible - donations, events, food, cars (!), marathons, messages & prayers of goodwill, love and hope have been deeply moving. It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that, cumulatively, it has been life-saving. We honestly don’t know what we’d have done without you all, and Molly and I are continually in awe. Most of all, we want you to know the incredible good this has done for Bessie, as she is the great and ultimate beneficiary of your kindness.

We've spent most of the time since February in hospital. Bessie has just finished her 12th round of chemo, with the last 6 to go (18 in total). That takes us to mid-September (8 x more weeks) and the treatment-finish-line. Together with the chemo, Bessie’s endured…

3 x surgeries

128 x blood tests

85 x nights in hospital (Bristol & Truro)

20 x blood transfusions

22 x different scans (x-rays, MRI’s, ultrasounds etc)

Molly has mostly gone with her for treatment and I’ve done a few trips too. So far Bessie’s been driven over 5000 miles since January - that’s the equivalent of driving from Zennor to Namibia! She’s always stoked to pass the famous ‘Copse’ on the A30 coming back home to Cornwall.

Her leg operation (on April 16th) was very successful - it really did go perfectly and we were amazed by the fact that she was able to wiggle her toes only hours after waking up. Ironically she says those couple of weeks in Birmingham were the easiest - her pain was well managed and the break from the chemo regime allowed her to feel okay for a while. She’s proud of her (fast healing) scar and now has a very bionic leg!

Following the operation we were extremely relieved and encouraged to learn that the chemo had been very effective - the removed tumour was observed to be 90% destroyed. We’d held our breaths since January for this miraculous news which was as good a result as we could’ve hoped for. The chemotherapy protocol for this type of cancer is of the maximum intensity and it was not clear, up to that point, if it was having any effect at all. Bessie has been made so sick by it and suffered greatly, despite remaining superhumanly brave throughout. She has now lost the upper frequencies of her hearing and will likely need hearing aids post-treatment. Thanks to you all we can get her the best ones available.

Her physios are continually impressed with her recovery and she’s just walked her 1st few steps minus the crutches. We ordered her a special drysuit-shortie, designed for kids with a Hickman Line / tube, and afforded to her by the funds raised. This has allowed her to get back in the sea for the first time this year, something which has done her enormous good already. She tested it out at her amazing school leavers party on Friday down at beautiful Porthminster Beach and the joy was written all over her face. She really didn’t want to get out! It was a miracle that she was well enough to make it, and in a small gap between hospital visits. Bessie’s had to miss most of the last year of primary school so this was incredibly important to her. We’re so grateful to everyone who made Friday such a special day X

To look back across the first half of this year feels like a century has passed, but along with the darkest of times there have been some beautiful moments. The greatest obstacles = the most profound life lessons; the yin & yang. We’ve been granted a new perspective and clarity that may have been forever hidden from us, had we not lived through this experience. Following the end of Bessie’s chemo there’ll be a long process of rehabilitation and further treatments, but the light has begun to shine from the end of the tunnel. We are stepping towards it. You have helped hold us together and we can’t thank you enough.

In eternal gratitude and massive love,

Mike, Molly, Bessie & Harry xxxx

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