Rochdale Golf Club members complete ‘longest day’ golf challenge for Macmillan

Four members of Rochdale Golf Club challenged themselves to play the ‘longest day’ of golf on Sunday 13 June, all in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

Forming ‘Team Mateo’, Marcus Howarth, Dave Corlett, Nick Leech and Nick Dale arrived at the Edenfield Road club for a 5am tee off, aiming to play four rounds of golf in under 18 hours.

The charity challenge was in aid of a cause very close to the golf team's hearts.

On Tuesday 24 September 2019, team member Marcus Howarth’s son Mateo was diagnosed with AML Leukaemia, aged just 2 years and 3 months old.

Marcus and his wife, Sarah, wrote on the dedicated JustGiving page: “He had been poorly for a couple of weeks; pale and lethargic, with high temperatures and small bruises on his body. Initially on presentation at hospital, he was treated for meningitis but when his blood results came back - they confirmed he had Leukaemia.

“We were taken to The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital where we stayed for nearly 7 months. Mateo endured 4 rounds of intense chemotherapy; the first round being administered whilst he was in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit where he needed ventilation on life support for almost three weeks because the leukaemia had affected his lungs.”

It was here on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit where Marcus and Sarah met their Macmillan nurse Andrea.

She explained the treatment Mateo was receiving, talked the couple through the trial drugs recommended for him, and helped to prepare the parents for the side effects the chemotherapy would have on their youngest son.

Not only did she help them and Mateo through an extremely difficult period, but also provided ‘much needed support’ for their two other young children.

 

 

They continued: “Andrea visited Harriet and Seve at their school to explain to them and their classmates how doctors and nurses are really good at getting people better and how we should try to be strong when people we know are poorly. This gave the opportunity for our daughter and son to talk about their brother’s illness in a safe environment with a nurse who knew Mateo and reassured them that the hospital was the best place for him to be.

“As a whole family we will forever be grateful and thankful to our Macmillan Nurse and the charity as a whole, for supporting us through the toughest time we have ever faced and are ever likely to face.”

The charity fundraiser has currently raised £4,495 of the team’s £1,000 target for Macmillan – and donations can still be made.

You can donate to the JustGiving page by using the link below:

• www.justgiving.com/TeamTeo