East Durham College to Raise Funds for Eye Cancer Charity

March 21, 2012 - PRLog -- East Durham College are setting up a number of activities to help raise money for the childhood eye cancer charity CHECT, helping them celebrate their 25th Anniversary.

The Childhood Eye Cancer Trust or CHECT as they are better known, is the only charity dedicated to helping those who have been affected by eye cancer or retinoblastoma (Rb). They specialise in supporting children with the condition and helping their families to cope with the cancer.

Retinoblastoma is a very rare condition in which a tumour develops in the retina of the eye in very early childhood. It grows very quickly but if caught early enough, has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers and 97% of cases survive the cancer.

Roughly two thirds of the children diagnosed with Retinoblastoma will have it in just one eye which is known as unilateral disease and once cured, has no risk of coming back. Those with retinoblastoma in both eyes have the bilateral disease which can return later in life. Only around 40 children a year are diagnosed with the condition and there is a limited amount of awareness.

CHECT aim to not only raise money to help families suffering with Retinoblastoma but also raise awareness of the condition and help parents to diagnose the symptoms early.

East Durham College students and lecturers are thrilled to get involved and are running a whole host of activities to help the charity raise money. To celebrate the 25th year of the charity, they are aiming towards raising a challenging £250,000. The activities are being led by Alison Scattergood who is a barbering lecturer at East Durham and was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma when she was a child.

The events will start on Monday the 16th April and will run for the whole week. Barbering and Hairdressing students will be giving away 25 free haircuts and 25 free conditioning treatments with scalp massage. Instead of charging, students will be asking customers to make a donation towards the charity fund.

Beauty therapy students will then be continuing the free treatments with 25 free nail painting sessions and 25 eyebrow waxing treatments. Matt Johns, a sports lecturer from EDC, is organising a charity 25 mile bike ride for students and lecturers and the Catering team are holding a raffle to give away a free dinner in the college restaurant, Scene1.  Liz Peary, a personal learning coach at the college, will also be making 25 homemade pasties and selling them to help towards the college’s contribution.

The week will end with the construction team washing 25 cars and finally a celebratory trip to Durham on Friday evening for all the staff involved to visit 25 pubs and drink 25 pints between them.

East Durham College hope to raise as much money as possible for the charity and are looking forward to all the events happening.

East Durham College is a leading further education centre and Sixth Form College. They specialise in providing students with the highest quality further education. They have a huge number of courses to choose from including A levels, GCSE’s, Apprenticeships and vocational courses.