From Redditch to Tanzania to the QEHB – Brooke’s amazing story continues.

If you have followed Cure Leukaemia in recent years you may have heard, seen or met 22-year-old Brooke Evans from Redditch. In August 2013, Brooke was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and she spent her 18th birthday having gruelling treatement for the disease. Read Brooke’s story from 4 years ago here.

Thanks to a clinical trial, made available thanks to funds raised for Cure Leukaemia, Brooke went into remission and began finding ways to help spread awareness and raise funds for the charity. Brooke’s story is a hugely positive example of how funds raised for this great charity can make such a huge difference.

In 2014, Brooke was the public face of our ‘Birmingham – Let’s Cure Leukaemia’ campaign and could be seen on huge LED screens on the M6 thanks to our wonderful partners at Elonex. She was happy to be quoted in the local press and was always keen to help the charity in any way she could.

As she began to feel better, Brooke turned her mind towards fundraising and she decided to use her family’s passion as way to raise funds for Cure Leukaemia.

Brooke’s father, Simon, owns an independant Porsche business in Redditch and she decided to do her first driving sprint around Curborough race track in Staffordshire. The Porsche she drove was branded in the Cure Leukaemia logo and local businesses sponsored her to be included on the bodywork.

Brooke raised over £5,000 for Cure Leukaemia – a fantastic amount from such a unique idea.

In 2014, Brooke was happy to attend the Great Birmingham Run to speak to our runners before the start and remind them why they were pounding the streets for 13.1miles that day. She also spoke to Channel 5 in the build up to the race. Inspired by all of the runners that day Brooke said she would run the Great Birmingham Run in 2016, and she was true to her word!

Brooke did indeed run the Great Birmingham Run in 2016 as a member of ‘Team Haem’, a group of runners from Worcester Hospital who raised a fantastic £20,000+ for Cure Leukaemia.

Whilst Brooke’s story is positive sadly she did lose a close friend whilst in hospital, Pagan Goral. The girls formed a close bond whilst undergoing their treatment and Pagan was certainly in Brooke’s thoughts as she took on the half marathon in October 2016…

In recognition of her achievements and for everything she has done for the charity since 2014, Brooke was awarded the Nurses Award at Cure Leukaemia’s #CLChampions event in late 2016.

Brooke’s treatment as a teenager understandably disrupted her studies and after all her experiences she made the decision to train to become a nurse.

Studying at the University of Worcester, she began her journey in 2015 which will hopefully result in her becoming a registered nurse in July this year.

She began working on placement at Worcester Hospital and was keen to meet up with Cure Leukaemia funded nurse Kate Arthur whilst she was there.

In January 2018, Brooke travelled to Tanzania, to work in the Muhimbili National Hospital in their paediatric oncology ward as a placement for her 3rd year nursing degree. She returned earlier this month after ‘the best experience of my life’…

On October 8th 2018 Brooke started her career as a registered haematology nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on the same floor she was treated on 5 years ago. If there was ever a story to emphasise how vital your fundraising is for Cure Leukaemia, this is it. Brooke’s story is truly inspirational and it has touched so many in the years we have known her. Everyone at Cure Leukaemia wishes her the best of luck in her career helping others beat this cruel disease. Thank you Brooke for all you’ve done for Cure Leukaemia.