Parents join in the fun

PARENTS of children in Reception classes at Crossways Infant School came in to spend a morning learning alongside their children at the end of term.

The parents lent a hand with seed planting and some Easter activities, including making hats, bunnies and playing games.

Headteacher Jo Geoghegan said: "It was fabulous to have so many parents join us for this session and we’re looking forward to opening classrooms up for more events like this."

A THORNBURY man with an incurable form of cancer has started a new treatment, thanks to the kindness of well-wishers.

In less than a week, hundreds of people donated more than £11,000 to Rob Hale's online appeal – enough for the first round of chemotherapy.

Rob has acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

He was rejected for treatment with a chemotherapy drug called Nelarabine on the NHS as it is palliative, which means it is to ease his symptoms rather than a cure.

But thanks to the fundraiser, he paid for a first course of the treatment privately at the end of April – and hopes it will buy him more time.

Rob said he was overwhelmed when the appeal hit £5,000 in the first day. It had passed £12,000 as the Voice went to press.

He said: “I woke up in the morning, less than 12 hours after creating it, and just burst into tears when I saw the donations that had come in overnight and the kind messages accompanying them.

“I honestly didn't expect such an overwhelmingly positive response.”

Rob was diagnosed in 2021. In December the 33-year-old aerospace engineer was told his cancer was incurable; he hosted a 'living funeral' to say goodbye to friends and family in January.

Now he is hoping the new treatment will keep him well enough to see the birth of his sister Nikki Foss’s baby boy this summer.

Rob said the donations and money from his parents had enabled him to start the first round of private treatment, which takes 21 days, including five in hospital.

He said: "This chemo won't cure me, but they hope it will slow down the leukaemia enough to make another treatment they've applied for viable when it arrives.”

Rob’s doctors have asked an American pharmaceutical company for a free course of