Wigan teen's 24-hour challenge raises thousands for blood cancer charity in honour of aunt

Lynsey Gregory was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in January 2019, just months after the birth of her second child.

She had no idea she had the blood cancer, until a fall during a game of netball led to the diagnosis.

Lynsey, who lives in Winstanley, said: “I had my baby in June 2018, my second child Tilly. In November, I went back to playing netball and I fell and bruised all my legs and my arms.

"The week after, the bruising was still there and it was so bad that my mum told me to go to the doctors, but I didn’t want to think it was a big deal and I was an easy bruiser anyway.

"I waited a couple of days until an appointment with the children. I spoke to the doctor and he didn’t seem concerned, but sent me for blood tests.”

Lynsey had the tests and received a phone call from an on-call doctor late at night telling her to go to Wigan Infirmary’s A&E department because her platelets were low.

"I was a little bit worried then. I had never heard of platelets before,” she said.

Doctors revealed her platelet count was 30, when it should be between 150 and 450, and got her ready for a transfusion.

Lynsey, 39, said: “They asked me a lot of questions. They asked if I was tired and I said I was very busy with a toddler and a new baby. They asked me if I had a cough and I said yes, but my son Theo had a cough as well. She asked if I had any night sweats and I had, but because it was winter and we had the heating on a lot, so I kept excusing it, but I thought something was wrong.”

Lynsey was under the haematology team at Wigan Infirmary and had a bone marrow test, which revealed she had ALL.

At this point, her platelet count was just nine and she was very poorly.

She had to spend four weeks away from her family at The Christie receiving extensive chemotherapy treatment.

It was there she started writing a book so her son Theo could understand what was happening and it was eventually published to help other children.

Doctors found Lynsey had the Philadelphia positive gene, which meant that even if they removed the disease from her bloodstream, it could return in future.

The only way to stop that happening was to have a stem cell transplant, but it depended on a match being found.

Lynsey said: “I was fortunate that someone had donated and was on the register, so they could get in touch with them. I was very lucky.”.

She had the stem cell transplant in September 2019 and stayed in hospital for another six weeks, before she was allowed go home to her family.

She said: “I have had my ups and down, but I am still here now and that’s the positive. I don’t need any more chemo. They would say I am in remission from cancer.”

Since then, Lynsey has done something to raise awareness every year on World Blood Cancer Day, which falls on May 28.

It started in 2020, during the pandemic, when she asked people to do something red, such as wear red, draw a red picture or hold a red picnic.

She wanted to do something special this time as it is five years since her diagnosis and she enlisted the help of her 14-year-old nephew Dylan Gough.

She said: "He planned it all himself. He said he would run 24 miles in 24 hours and run through the night, from 7am to 7am the next day.”

Dylan started the challenge on Saturday morning from Lynsey’s house and ran a mile every hour, with plenty of support.

Lynsey’s son Theo, who is now eight, planned to run five miles to mark the fifth anniversary, but surpassed his goal.

Lynsey said: “Everybody was so involved and kept going with it. All the family did at least a mile and Theo did 10 miles. My brother Martin did all 24 miles with Dylan.

"We had cakes outside my house and balloons. People came to have a drink and cake with us.

"People who had seen Dylan running stopped and asked what we were doing.”

It was a tough challenge, but Dylan, who attends St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School, kept going and completed all 24 miles.

Lynsey, a special needs teacher, said: “I am so proud of Dylan. He was so tired. The last couple of miles were really getting to him, because he was tired. It’s hard to stay awake when no-one else is during the night and then go out to run a mile. He did so well.”

Donations of £410 were given on the day by people who visited the stall at Lynsey’s house or saw Dylan and the team running around the streets of Winstanley.

It has been added to the donations given online, taking the total raised so far to £2,625.

The money will go to DKMS, a charity working to increase the number of potential blood stem cell donors in the UK.

To make a donation to Dylan’s appeal, go to www.justgiving.com/page/dylan-gough-runforbloodcancer.