22 year old Alex Mcgrory was travelling in Vietnam when he contracted a tropical infection. Due to the severity of his illness, he was flown in an air ambulance over to a hospital in Bangkok where he was diagnosed with leukaemia.
Back in the UK Alex battled bravely for two years, having two stem cell transplants in an effort to save his life. Unfortunately both transplants were rejected by his body and he was told by doctors that they could do no more. Despite this, Alex battled on for another 12 weeks determined to celebrate his 23rd Birthday with family and friends.
Alex’s party was held on the Sunday after his Thursday Birthday at Bloom Jazz Club in Altrincham, just around the corner from where he lived. Bloom Jazz Club not only arranged for Alex to be picked up in a shiny Bentley Convertible (one of Alex's favourite cars) but also generously offered to donate 20% of the takings they received on the night to Anthony Nolan.
The event raised over £1,000 from a combination of buckets that friends placed around the bar and the money donated by Bloom from their takings.
Alex sadly passed away the following day.
During Alex’s illness, his three friends Ben Tomlin, Konny Papadopolous and Joe Higson all signed up to run the Chester half marathon for Anthony Nolan.
Ben said ‘Considering the three of us only signed up to the half marathon 5 weeks in advance, the training was going to be difficult enough, but with set backs such as Alex's party, death, and funeral it was made that much more difficult.
‘However, each training session, the courage and determination Alex displayed throughout his two year battle was always in our thoughts and helped us push on, especially on the day of the run, as well as the knowledge that all our hard work and fundraising would go toward helping others like Alex.’
The friends raised well over a staggering £4,000 and plan on more fundraising events for Anthony Nolan in the future.
You can still donate to the trio’s fantastic achievement by heading to their JustGiving page www.justgiving.com/benkonnyjoe
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