Our #CLChampions Awards will be announced on Friday, December 14th 2018 and here are some of the nominees this year. Many thanks to our award sponsors, OWB Creative, Rewired, Equilibrium Security, Silks Solicitors, GMS Group, KPMG and South & City College Birmingham.

Sharon Baker – Sharon played a huge role in helping Cure Leukaemia secure the Deutsche Bank partnership in October last year and maximise ‘One Day’ in September this year, tirelessly promoting the charity’s message amongst staff in the Birmingham office. Then in 2018 she took on her first 10km run and decided to sign up to the half marathon and recruited a team of 35 runners within the bank to take on the 13.1miles in pouring rain raising over £15,000 for CL. These are the headlines, Sharon has also done so much more throughout the year to help CL.

Kerrie Rowson – Kerrie is the lead member of the Employee Leadership Forum, otherwise known as ELF, driving engagement and awareness amongst Deutsche Bank’s staff across the country. Kerrie also cycled from London to Amsterdam and ran in the DB Half Marathon team in the pouring Brummie rain raising over £1,000 for CL.

Paul Shepheard & Mary Yucedal – Paul and Mary were the driving force behind the Deutsche Bank Hackathon in the summer which saw 800 technology staff in offices across the world spend 24 hours designing a prototype app for leukaemia patients. This epic, global event was only possible thanks to Paul and Mary’s drive and passion for the project and the results were fantastic. Now it is up to CL to implement these great ideas and create a transformational app that can be available to patients across the whole world.

The London to Frankfurt Team – This epic bike ride which saw some of the team ride up to 120miles a day was driven by David Keen & Nigel Collier from the Canary Wharf office. David’s granddaughter Autumn was diagnosed with Leukaemia on Boxing Day last year and her fight inspired David to form a team and take on this epic trip. The team, which comprised cyclists of all abilities, completed the journey at the Bank’s Head office in Frankfurt and raised over £70,000 for Cure Leukaemia.

The Borneo Trek Team – In June this year, 23intrepid employees from Deutsche Bank offices in London and Birmingham, travelled 7,247 miles to Borneo to take on a gruelling, week-long trek. The pinnacle of the voyage was scaling the 4,000 metre Mount Kinabalu. The team endured 2am starts and torrential downpours as they descended the mountain. The raised an incredible £50,000 for Cure Leukaemia.

Marco’s Tour de Cure – Led by inspirational patient Mark Nicholas who was recovering from a stem-cell transplant this time last year, the 11-strong Marco’s Tour de Cure took on the 500km London 2 Paris bike ride in September. The team sought sponsors for the gilet they wore en route to Paris and team members Stuart & Olivier held a stunning event at the Edgbaston after the ride. Team Marco’s Tour de Cure have raised over £22,000 for Cure Leukaemia.

Team Archie – When teenager Archie Bull, from Southampton, was diagnosed with leukaemia earlier this year his friends and family rallied in support as we heard earlier at Lavington School and also through golf days, bike rides and half marathons. To date, Team Archie, or ‘The Legends’, are already close to their £10,000 target with an epic walk from Southampton to Liverpool and a fun run planned in the Spring.

Jaguar Land Rover – As we heard earlier, Jon Rea and Isobel Farrell organised their colleagues on two different JLR sites and formed teams for four consecutive Wolf Runs, Brindleyplace Family Festival Dragon Boat Race and the Cure Leukaemia football match at St. Andrews Jon also secured funding for a specialist vein machine at the Centre. Combined they’ve raised close to £18,000 for CL.

Jaymz Goodman – Patient Jaymz has been a key volunteer since we first met him in 2015. We’re delighted to announce that he will have final final round of chemo on Christmas Eve! Jaymz helped us raise £635,000 through Deutsche Bank One Day and played a key role in the RBSA Art Auction at DB last month.

Adam Joyce & Natalka Greenwood – Former patient Adam and his partner Natalka were an integral part of the London 2 Paris crew this year. Natalka’s cheering especially will live long in the memory! Adam, as you can see has hosted events throughout the year and was involved in Deutsche Bank One Day and the 24 hr Hackathon – both transformational days for this charity.

Matilda Elwell & family – Matilda and her parents are always on hand to help the CL Team and 2018 was no exception as they
volunteered at both Race to the Tower & Race to the Stones cheering all our intrepid walkers and runners in from their epic journey. Matilda was also very quick to donate her name for the wall at the Centre in memory of her husband Neil.

John & Debbie Riley – The Rileys are the epitome of the CLFamily and are always happy to make the trip from Shrewsbury to help where possible. This year they’ve help organise fundraising events in Shrewsbury, cheered on our Ride Across Britain cyclists and even met His Royal Highness Prince Edward Earl of Wessex at the Centre!

The Price Family – Steph, Harry, Derek and the rest of the Price family are always on hand to help where possible. Steph is a regular on social media promoting the charity and travelled to London to help with Deutsche Bank quiz and Harry turned out for the Cure Leukaemia team at St Andrew’s earlier this year – player managing Team CL to a resounding victory! Harry and Steph also met the Earl of Wessex in June on a memrobale day for the charity.

Jason & Anne Green – Steph’s cousin Anne and her husband Jason have been supporting the charity for the last three years. This year they took part in a bucket shake at Morrisons in Coleshill and they represented the charity at a recent cheque presentation. In short, they are always there to help and nothing is ever too much bother!

Kevin Hoskins – In April 2018, Kevin took on the mammoth 26.2 mile London Marathon and completed the challenge in 4 hours 33 minutes, raising over £7,300 in memory of his Godson Harry, who sadly passed away of Leukaemia at 6 years of age. Alongside Harry’s parents Matthew and Debbie Gaut, Kevin helped organise a Charity Golf Day in Surrey which raised over £3,300!

Jaguar Land Rover – This year, Jaguar Land Rover employees, Jon Rea and Isobel Farrell encouraged colleagues to get involved with 4 consecutive Wolf Runs, Brindleyplace Family Festival Dragon Boat Race and the Cure Leukaemia football match at Birmingham City FC’s stadium St. Andrews, raising a substantial total for the charity. Jon also secured funding from JLR to supply the Centre for Clinical Haematology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham with a specialist vein machine. Combined they raised close to £18,000 for CL.

The Bluebell Walk – Thanks to the generosity of the Haimes family and Andrea Tubb from Deutsche Bank, Cure Leukaemia had the opportunity to be involved with the annual Bluebell Walk at Yew Tree Farm in Wootten Wawen which raised significant awareness and over £20,000 in a weekend! This event brought hundreds of new community supporters to Cure Leukaemia.

Drive System Design and the 3 Peaks Team – A nine-strong team from Drive System Design completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge and raised over £8,000 for Cure Leukaemia in support of their colleague Lizzie Dean. In doing so they had to tackle a distance of 24 miles including 5,200 miles of climbing. The team overcame some unseasonable late summer weather to complete their challenge well inside the 12-hour target.

The Glamour & Goodness Ball – Sophie McCausland, Lauren McLean and their team organised a memorable black tie charity ball at The National Motorcycle Museum in Blood Cancer Awareness Month, raising a staggering £24k for Cure Leukaemia and the Brain Tumour Research charity!

Michael Bianco – Michael, from Bobbington in Staffordshire, has defied his own battle with leukaemia to lead a major fundraising event for Cure Leukaemia. Supported by friends, Michael worked with the Red Lion pub to organise a Golf Day at the Staffordshire Golf Club which proved a great success. Over £2,700 was raised for the charity, which was handed over at the Centre for Clinical Haematology where Michael continues to receive treatment. His friend, Jason Bowers, also orgnaised and took part in a 24-hour snooker challenge raising a further £4,500 for Cure Leukaemia.

Lavington School – The staff and pupils from Lavington School in Wiltshire have taken part in various internal fundraisers in support of their school friend Archie Bull, who is currently battling Leukaemia. The school have organised a sponsored head shave and non-school uniform day, raising over £2,000!

Tabitha Dix – A leukaemia diagnosis for a member of her extended family, and subsequent bone marrow transplant which helped the patient into remission, prompted young Tabitha Dix to want to raise money for Cure Leukaemia. The decision she took was a very personal one, deciding to cut off all of her hair, which she had been growing since she was just five years old! The hair was donated to make a wig for someone who has lost their hair through cancer, and Tabitha raised a fantastic sum of almost £2,000 for Cure Leukaemia.

Ellie Cox – At just six years old, Ellie decided to have her beloved golden locks chopped off and donated to the Little Princess Trust, which provides wigs to children and young people who have lost their hair through cancer treatment. It was the first time Ellie had ever had her hair fully cut, and was in memory of Lucie Southall from Redditch, who passed away at the age of just 12 after being diagnosed with leukaemia. Ellie raised over £600 for Cure Leukaemia as a result of the cut.

Louise Cobbold – Artist Louise and her husband Chris have been fantastic supporters of Cure Leukaemia during 2018, through a series of fundraising auctions. Louise’s paintings of Wolves players raised almost £12,000 in a Great Big Art Auction, since when that total has been swelled further by print sales, commissioned portraits of Beverley Knight and Robert Plant, and a limited-edition book taking their fundraising total close to £20,000!

Dan McLeod – A few years ago Daniel suffered a severe back injury that cast serious doubt on him ever being able to play sport again. This year he completed his first ever half marathon at the Great Birmingham Run, but was indebted to a mystery supporter who emerged at 11 miles to say thank you because his son is currently battling leukaemia. Daniel went on to complete the race and raised over £1,000 for Cure Leukaemia in the process, he also took part in the inaugural Copa Del CL football tournament at St George’s Park.

Dave Waldron – Dave is the senior charge nurse at the Centre for Clinical Haematology at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital ran the 13.1 mile Great Birmingham Run in October raising a staggering amount in excess of £10,500! On top of that, David continuously supports Cure Leukaemia by giving tours of the Centre and assisting with campaigns and organising raffles throughout the year.

Dr. Thomas Holdstock – Dr Thomas Holdstock certainly lived up to the tradition of epic Cure Leukaemia cycling challenges. And he doesn’t do things by halves. In support of his Drive System Design colleague Lizzie Dean, Tom rode 3,200 miles across America from Los Angeles to New York, raising in excess of £8,000.

Adam Bourne – Adam Bourne, a fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, was so inspired by the battle with leukaemia of the team’s goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, that in July of this year, he decided to take on a variety of cycling and running challenges across the country. All in all, thanks to different cycling events including Ride London and Velethon Wales – not to mention running the Wales Half Marathon – he covered the grand total of 400 miles which included between 23,000 and 24,000 feet of climbing.

Nathan Judah – Express & Star Digital Sports Editor Nathan Judah raised almost £4,000 for Cure Leukaemia by taking part in the Dopey Challenge – insert your own punchline here! In all seriousness, it is a gruelling challenge taking in four events, a 5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon across four American theme parks. On top of that Nathan also completed the Great Birmingham Run and helped publicise Cure Leukaemia’s fundraising with Wolves supporters following the diagnosis of goalkeeper Carl Ikeme.

Jess Hempshall – Last year Jess Hempshall wrote a book to raise funds for Cure Leukaemia as a thank you for the charity’s support for her friend Fiona. This year Jess went further. Quite a lot further infact! She has been producing a daily video message on social media, a Vlog as it is known, every single day of the year, packed with information about Cure Leukaemia patients, fundraisers and events. Not too many days left now Jess….