Richard Cook posted a fabulous picture of an interesting quilt onto the UK Quilters Facebook Group so we asked him to tell his story. In his own words:
We all like to celebrate anniversaries – birthdays and marriages especially. But some anniversaries can be painful as they are associated to a date with an unpleasant event. For me this last year had both. Forty years ago my eldest son Simon was born, so we celebrated his 40th birthday, but it is also my 40th anniversary of being diagnosed with cancer.
My wife and I were young when he was born, Heather was 22 and I was 24, we’d been married just over a year, life was good… Then whilst she was still in hospital with our baby son I found a swollen testicle. And a week later it was bigger. As my new family settled into a routine at home I was off to hospital for surgery, and then three chemotherapy treatments over the very cold snowy winter with all the usual unpleasant side effects. In those days chemo was relatively new and brutal. But, thanks to the research and developments of modern cancer treatments, I’m still standing!
To mark this milestone in my life I decided to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. 40 years ago this amazing charity didn’t exist. My surgery was carried out on the ‘waterworks ward’, where the next youngest patient was well into their 60’s. I was (accidentally) told I had cancer by a young house doctor as we chatted whilst he was taking blood samples. He didn’t realise I hadn’t been given the diagnosis officially! Although the diagnosis was hard to take and the treatment harsher as a young man there are some other stories of light hearted moments.
As a young mother and now carer for both a newborn and a sick husband (with no idea if I would survive) Heather had no support from the medical professions, partners didn’t in those days. The Teenage Cancer Trust now provide the support and help that young cancer sufferers and their families need.
Having decided to raise funds through sponsorship I knew I couldn’t run a marathon, but I can quilt. So instead of running I made a quilt, made up of 40 pieced blocks in 40 days to celebrate my 40 years of being cancer free.
Every day I made one block using the little book: ‘The New Quick & Easy Block Tool!’. The blocks would each be 10” finished. The central T will reference the Teenage Cancer Trust logo, and be surrounded by twenty of the blocks whose names relate directly to my experience of having cancer, the treatment and my recovery. For example, ’Snowball’ reminds me of the very cold snowy winter of 1981, and ‘Baby Bunting’ of my new born baby son.
The final 15 blocks were decided by the members of the quilting classes where I support and teach as a volunteer. Funnily enough, whilst they could have chosen the simple 2-grid blocks they voted for the 8-grid ones, apparently I needed an extra challenge!
My intention was to raise £300 for the Teenage Cancer Trust that does such amazing work supporting young cancer sufferers. To my surprise and delight this target was surpassed in just two days. A week in and the total was nearing £500. Now the quilt top is finished, and the total blew me away at just over £1,000. I can’t thank all who donated their hard earned money enough.
So that’s why I did this very personal quilting challenge. How I got into quilting is a whole other story
Richard
What an inspiring and heartwarming blog!