04
Aug
'Nothing will be as hard as chemo': Harrogate dad completes cycling challenge for cancer charity
We have made this story free to read, but we rely on support from subscribers to ensure we can cover these important stories. Please consider subscribing for just 14p a day.
A Harrogate dad has raised almost £6,000 for a local charity that supported his family while his child was undergoing treatment for rare blood disorder.
Tom Hume has cycled 50km each day for the last 50 days, with the challenge set to end today (August 4). So far he has raised £5,869.
Mr Hume’s son, Finn, was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia – a rare blood disorder – in August 2024, aged just two.
What followed was 48 blood transfusions, chemotherapy over Christmas, a stem cell transfusion on New Year’s Eve and 10 months in isolation.
It all started during the handover at nursery, when the staff flagged that Finn was covered in bruises and a rash.
Mr Hume said:
I did the evening routine as usual, took some photos to show Dee [his wife and Finn’s mum, who is a doctor]. We thought it was just an infection but took him for a blood test the next day.
The results found that his platelets [required for blood clotting] were critically low and he needed an emergency blood transfusion, and his white bloods cells [for fighting infection] were low too. He was put into isolation that day. We went into a room away from anyone, all the toys they brought in for Finn to play with had to be disinfected.
'There were a few touch and go moments'
After spending six days in Harrogate District Hospital he was transferred to Leeds General Infirmary, where he could be treated by specialists. He stayed there, in isolation, until late October.
Mr Hume said:
He was as sick as you get. He had a repeated fever of over 40 degrees for 50 days, he had to get needles and cannulas every few days. When he got home we still had to isolate and he was on 15 medications a day. There were a few touch and go moments.
Tom Hume has raised nearly £6,000 for charity.
It was clear from the start that Finn would need a bone marrow transplant, and this was set to take place in November. However, when they put the line into his chest in preparation for the operation, the tube gave him an infection.
All this happened over Finn’s third birthday and the festive season, with Father Christmas only able to wave through a window when coming to visit the Children's Ward.
After the transplant, Finn made an unusually quick recovery, going home just three weeks later – but still had to isolate at home for six months.
Mr Hume said:
We went to quiet places to make sure we got some fresh air. We would work out the play areas where no other children went and go there. But if you were having a lovely time with Finn and someone else arrived we had to leave – we just couldn’t take the risk. But we couldn’t explain that to him.
In June we were back into the real world again. Finn had the immune system of a newborn so we had to be cautious – he even had to have all his jabs again. That year was brutal, but once he had the transplant it was basically back to normal.
'You just have to get on with it, you don’t have a choice'
During this traumatic time, the family were supported by Candlelighters – a Yorkshire children’s cancer charity.
Mr Hume said:
The charity is an absolute necessity. Dee was in the hospital for 60 days with him, with no one to bring her food or let her go to the toilet. They are essential – we would have been stuffed without them. If you just want to go and get a coffee you have to change your shoes and wash your hands, and all the sterilising, and sometimes you would get to the kitchen area and someone else was in there so you couldn’t go in. Candlelighters would bring you that coffee.
The charity also has Candlelighters Cottage – homely accommodation for the family of those with a child staying in Leed’s Children’s Hospital.
This allowed Finn’s family somewhere to go to get fresh, healthy meals, wash their clothes and sleep somewhere other than a hospital sofa.
Mr Hume said:
Candlelighters made our very worst moments a little more bearable. We’re lucky our experience was over in a year, not like leukaemia where it’s spread over years. You just have to get on with it, you don’t have a choice. You just do it.
'Nothing will be as hard as chemo'
Mr Hume decided to raise money for Candlelighters “on a whim”.
He said:
Candlelighters invited us to a 50 years event they had at Diggerland, and when I read more about the charity I decided to do something. I knew it had to be something to do with 50 – but doing 50 miles or kilometres seemed too easy. So I said 50km over 50 days. And I started that Monday. There was no training – although I cycled a bit already. I’m just your average 39-year-old.”
Mr Hume, a teacher at a local school, never thought he’d raise as much as he has – he initially set a target of £2,500 but when he reached it quickly set it to £5,000.
Very little planning has gone into the routes – Mr Hume would just consider the weather and where the headwind was, and base his routes around that and where he needed to be for work and doing nursery collections.
How hard was it?
I live by Otley Road, so whatever route I did, no matter what direction I came from, I always had to finish coming up a big hill. That’s tough. There were days when I thought ‘if I didn’t do this no one would notice. I could just get into the car and drive slow, it would still show on Strava’. But I always thought that nothing will be as hard as going through chemo.
To donate to Tom Hume's Candlelighters fundraiser go to the JustGiving website here.
0