AN ONLINE crowdfunding page has been set up to raise money for a family in the Axarquía, after Amanda Edwards and her eight-year-old son were both diagnosed with cancer within months of each other.
Natalie Hancock set up the JustGiving page and is hoping it will raise enough money to send her lifelong friend Amanda, and her sons Abraham and José, on a dream holiday to Disneyland Paris after a nightmare year for the family.
In February Abraham was diagnosed with two different types of rare leukaemia, and spent six weeks in Málaga’s Materno Infantil hospital. Amanda told CDSN that, after feeling unwell with swollen glands and a cold, her son was taken for a blood test and then kept in overnight before being diagnosed the next day.
And then in May Amanda, who has lived in the village of Salto del Negro near Vélez-Málaga since 2002 after moving from London, was dealt the devastating blow of being diagnosed with breast cancer and is also now receiving treatment.
She said that the pair sometimes spend “13 hours a day, five days a week” going back and forth to hospitals in Málaga and Vélez-Málaga, especially with Abraham currently undergoing three different chemotherapy treatments. The family has also lost its sole income, with single mother Amanda, a self-employed translator for expats, unable to work.
However, she called her son “a battler” who “gets on with it and is always smiling”, and said she has received “unbelievable local support” from both the Spanish and expat communities, with people volunteering to cook meals and clean, while her mother, who lives nearby has helped to look after her 12-year-old son, José.
An emotional Amanda admitted to feeling “overwhelmed and speechless” by the fact that, at the time of going to press, her friend’s campaign has raised more than £2,000 in donations.
She said that the money will be used to take her sons on Abraham’s dream trip to Disneyland, adding that “it would mean the world to get away from real life, and see their faces”, while she is also “quite adamant” that some of the funds should go towards the oncology unit at Málaga’s Hospital Materno Infantil and the charities which volunteer with children on the ward, such as AVOI.
To help raise more money, there are also two events taking place in the Comares area this month and next. On October 13 there will be a fundraising raffle, disco and tapas at the Bar El Niño in Romo from 8pm, and on November 4, in Bar Ortega in Las Cuevas de Comares, there will be a charity head-shaving event and a raffle draw, also from 8pm. To get involved and make a donation directly to the JustGiving page, visit www.justgivingcom/crowdfun ding/mysonmyhero.
