The Riley Cameron Forget Me Not Fund is a CCLG Special Named Fund raising money for research into all childhood cancers in memory of eight-year-old Riley Cameron. Riley passed away from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in July 2008, just a week after being diagnosed.
His mum Rachel shares his story.
Riley’s diagnosis and passing all happened so quickly, in the space of just a couple of weeks. He had been feeling very unwell for a week, and had been off school. I took him to the doctors about four times and they said that he had a bug. The last time I took him all his gums were swollen, so we were sent to see the dentist to see if there was anything wrong with his teeth, but there wasn’t.
We went back to the out-of-hours local hospital, who sent him through to Hull Royal. There, we were told the next morning that they suspected leukaemia. We then got transferred to Leeds St James’s Hospital where he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Sadly, he was only there a week before he passed away on July 19, 2008.
Riley was a typical young boy. He loved football and had just joined a team of his own. He was a big Arsenal fan, too - which didn’t please his dad, who is a Leeds fan! He was also very passionate about cars – anything sporty, loud or fast - and he also loved playing with his wrestling figures.
We all miss him so much - me, his dad, Neil, and sister, Rihanna – and we continue his legacy through our fundraising, helping others in memory of our special little boy. We’ve spent a number of years raising money for Blood Cancer UK (formerly Bloodwise), having raised almost £50,000. We normally do something on Riley’s birthday, and we’ve done sponsored walks and when his friends were younger, we did charity football matches, too.
We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve done so far and now want to focus our attention on children’s cancer in particular. That is why we have set up the Riley Cameron Forget Me Not Fund at CCLG. When we first started fundraising, we weren’t that aware of children’s cancer charities and experts like CCLG, so now we hope to help raise funds to find better treatments and to help other families of children with cancer. We have lots planned and hope that we are able to raise as much money as possible so that others don’t have to go through what we did.
Make a donation to The Riley Cameron Forget Me Not Fund
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Open an online fundraising page for The Riley Cameron Forget Me Not Fund
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Set up a regular Direct Debit donation to The Riley Cameron Forget Me Not Fund
Research projects funded
BRAIN - A study to find out why some patients with leukaemia have long-term problems with learning and memory
Fundraising pages
Text CCLGRILEY to 70085 to donate £5.
CCLG will receive 100% of your donation. You may also be charged for one text message at your network’s standard or charity rate.
You can make a donation or pay in funds raised by cheque, payable to CCLG, to CCLG, Century House, 24 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GB. Please ensure you make it clear that the donation is for The Riley Cameron Forget Me Not Fund so that your donation is allocated to the correct fund.