The Ben Parker Trust Fund

(Providing holidays for children with cancer)

The Charities Offical Website

A Tribute To Chris Robinson

Our family wanted to make a donation to The Ben Parker Trust which we feel is a very worthy cause. Giving young sufferers and their families the chance to get away for some fun and quality time to their recharge batteries.

Christopher’s journey: Chris Robinson nicknamed ‘Peggy’ was 23 when he became unwell. We as a family noticed Chris looked pale and tired that Christmas but he’d had a cold as well and we put it down to him working 12 hours a day doing his management training at Tesco’s in Cannock. However this was not the case, he was admitted to Queens Hospital in Burton on Trent, he was diagnosed with chronic anaemia January 2008 and thus the long journey began.

During the following months Chris had transfusions, bone marrow aspirations, blood tests in order to find out the cause of his anaemia. He was referred to Kings College in London as his condition was rare and they wanted specialist opinion. We travelled to Kings for further tests in May 2008, his bone marrow tests showed he had an abnormal chromosome 5Q- which prevented red blood cells carrying oxygen, they broke down on the journey around the body, hence Chris was always tired. He also had about 5% leukaemia blast cells which were a very low amount and they did not appear active at that stage.

When Chris was well enough he would still visit his mates. He had a lovely girlfriend who often stopped over and loved him to bits. His highlights were going to Wolves matches with his brother Jon. Chris has always been a Wolves supporter and used to have a season ticket attending matches with his dad, brother, granddad and uncle (sorry Derby and other fans for any blasphemy!) He loved to watch sport on TV and was into cricket with his dad.

The next stage was to have Chemotherapy or trial a drug called lelidomide. Chris opted for the drug trial but South Staffs PCT refused to fund this, so Chris went to Kings and trialled the drug during Oct and Nov 2008. The bone marrow results in January 2009 showed the drug had cleared the 5q- but there was an increase in leukaemia blast cells which meant Chris would have to have chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, which was devastating news.

Chris was positive and wanted to get on with things so he could get on with his life. He wanted to eventually buy a house and move in with his girlfriend. A big family holiday was also on the agenda. We had a fab family Christmas in 2008, he won all the family games on the Wii and loved his Playstation. When he wasn’t able to get out he was on facebook and made loads of friends.

The first treatment of chemotherapy began in February 2009 at Heartlands in Birmingham closer to home for us to visit. Chris was in an isolation room for 7 weeks he had some awful days but he was so brave, it bought us all even closer as a family.

His results came back and he was in total remission he was thrilled; this meant the next step was stem cell transplant. His brother was a match as stem cell donor which was great news. We then had a lovely few months of fantastic weather, BBQ’s at home. Chris gained his strength back, put some weight on, gained some colour from the sunshine we nicknamed him “pork chops” as he piled on the pounds. He looked really well, his sense of humour was at a peak, he was always playing practical jokes with his brother i.e. throwing freezing water on mum whilst sunbathing. He played with our dog Mollie every day and took her for walks building his strength for the next stage. These months were so precious life seemed a little more normal for a while.

While undergoing chemotherapy at Kings Hospital he contracted an infection which at that stage was dangerous and critical, he sadly passed away quickly and unexpectedly on the 28^thJune 2009 the day before stem cell transplant.

It had been comforting to donate monies raised from Christopher’s friends and family have been to the Ben Parker Trust fund and we hope to continue to do so in the future.