A Charity Football Tournament that provided a fun day out for a special couple…
Four and a half years ago, Callum and Becky attended a mutual friend’s barbecue and, sharing a common career, they hit it off and have been together ever since.
Shortly before Callum’s 25th birthday, he received the diagnosis that he had a rare form of cancer called Insulinoma; a cancer which causes small tumours in the pancreas for which, unfortunately, there is no cure.
Callum and Becky were understandably devastated, and over the last three years, Oncologists and Doctors have been working to manage Callum’s disease through a variety of high-strength treatments and chemotherapies. Currently, Callum is undergoing a long course of Radiotherapy to try and slow the disease down and minimise his symptoms. The Solent NHS Specialist Palliative Care Team, who work closely with Rowans Hospice Charity, have been supporting Callum and Becky with symptom management and pain control to make Callum as comfortable as possible.
Becky and Callum told us,
The team have been amazing and are always on hand to assist us, whatever the hour. They are always at the end of the phone whenever we need them, and we could not be more grateful.
As a way to say thank you and to give back, Becky, a Senior Lettings Advisor at Cubitt & West in Portsmouth, along with colleague Abbie Tallack, decided to organise a Charity Football Tournament. They chose to support Rowans Hospice Charity because of their partnership with the Solent NHS Specialist Palliative Care Team and because many staff members at Cubitt & West have had family and friends cared for by the Charity.
Abbie told us:
We welcomed support in raising as many funds as possible, not only for Callum and Becky, but for the many others who are affected by a life-limiting illness.
Callum was able to attend the event to cheer on his colleagues from Jefferies Estate Agents as they went head to head against Becky’s colleagues from Cubitt & West, with the latter being the winning team!
We asked Becky and Callum what the highlight of the day was and they told us:
It was amazing from start to finish! When colleagues found out the day was not work-related, they were all keen to get involved. Abbie and Becky did all of the event planning but, on the day, everyone got stuck in to help pull it off. It was lovely to see everyone so happy and smiling throughout the day.
The highlight of the day for Callum and I, was being together. We have not had a fun day out together in such a long time!
Abbie added:
I find Becky and Callum’s story so inspirational, I am just blown away by how they are handling the situation as a couple and team. I wanted to be able to give something back to someone who is both a colleague and a friend. We managed to pull off the event in 10 weeks and the event was truly humbling and the support we received was amazing, so many businesses donated prizes for the raffle.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Charity Football Tournament and generating over £5,000 for local Hospice care. Your support is truly appreciated.