Newark mother and daughter duo complete 20 hours of crochet fundraising for rare cancer charity Sarcoma UK
A mother and daughter duo have racked up over 20 hours of crocheting — and raised more than £1,700 for a cancer charity.
Rachael Allen, of Newark, set up shop outside Farnsfield’s Co-op from 9am on Saturday (July 27) for a 12-hour crochet marathon in aid of Sarcoma UK, in a bid to turn her hobby into hope.
Her father, Trevor Allen, 60, has recently had a second surgery to combat spindle cell sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, to remove two tumours in his lungs.
Farnsfield was chosen as the location of the fundraiser as it is where Trevor was born.
Rachael was also joined by her mum Tana, and throughout the day the pair crocheted 12 blankets, along with book marks, pocket hugs and stress hearts which will be going to Nottingham City Hospital — where Trevor is being treated.
The blankets will go to the maternity unit and the book marks, pocket hugs and stress hearts to the Maggie’s centre.
Rachael said: “We had a really good response from everyone we spoke to, there were quite a few people that had never heard of sarcoma and wanted to know more and quite a few shared their stories and experiences with cancer and friends or family who have had cancer or sarcomas.
“I have never done any fundraising like this before so relied heavily on social media and the help from the Sarcoma UK charity. It was important to me to do this for the charity as July is sarcoma awareness month and with everything that we have gone through as a family I wanted to help others going through the same or something similar.
“It helped to be able to turn our experience as a family from something negative into a positive. Friends, family and colleagues all helped us to reach the goal online. We used the Just Giving platform so that the money goes directly to the charity so everything is updated and recorded on our just giving page.”
The crochet marathon raised £244.46 on the day, which was added to the Just Giving page. The overall total currently stands at £1,730 which Rachael says has “amazed” the family, who initially set a target of £250.
Spindle cell sarcoma, the cancer Trevor is being treated for, is a rare bone cancer that most often affects the arms and legs but can also affect the lungs and other body parts. There are an average of 173 cases of spindle cell sarcoma diagnosed every year in England.
Trevor, a lorry driver, first noticed a tiny lump on his thigh in November 2022. After seeing his GP, he had scans and was diagnosed with sarcoma in January 2023. He had an operation in May 2023, which involved the removal of a large amount of muscle from his leg.
By the end of September that year, Trevor had returned to light duties at work but in June a scan found the two further tumours in his lungs.
Now, after his second surgery the family is focusing on taking some time to process and get him on the road to recovery — although Rachael plans to keep supporting and fundraising for Sarcoma UK in the future.
