Charlie’s Angels Presents: Belinda’s Brave the Shave
Schedule
Sat Mar 15 2025 at 02:00 pm to 11:00 pm
UTC+00:00Location
Band Club | Kettering, EN
Come and watch Belinda Robinson brave the shave to raise funds in honor of Charlie, a close friend who’s touched our hearts with her brave battle over the last 12 months with stage 4 cancer, whilst also enduring Cystic Fibrosis. She’s been an inspiration to us and everyone around her, so this is our personal way of honouring her. Donate online to MacMillan Cancer Support to help us reach our fundraising target of £1000.Sponsor Belinda’s head shave on the link below:
https://bravetheshave.macmillan.org.uk/shavers/6f491539-510b-4c4e-bc3e-b37d3c9b9a4b
Or join us on the day and we’ll also be fundraising for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
Event Details:
Tickets £5 (message us to purchase)
Charity Events 2pm to 6pm:
- Face painting and children’s activities
- Henna Tattoos
- Auction a man for a fun charity wax
- Raffle draw with amazing prizes
& more
Plus live music from 6pm with Pure Genius
Read Charlie’s Journey: “My journey with Cystic Fibrosis started when I was only a few months old. At that time it was not part of the newborn screening program. It went undetected until I became quite unwell and one of the midwives at the time suggested I was tested for CF. My parents were told to expect a rather bleak future and my life expectancy was likely around 10yrs old. I'm very happy to say that babies born now with CF have an average age in the 40s! My childhood with CF was hard work, I won't lie! The regular hospital stays for intravenous antibiotics led to me needing my first operation when I was 5, the operation was to fit a port-a-cath in my chest which provided direct access for when I needed IV antibiotics. This is because my veins were no longer tolerating all the lines. When I was 14, I had a gastrostomy put in so I could be fed directly into my stomach, I could consume over 2000cals this way while I slept. I was really struggling to eat, and I couldn't tolerate drinking all the supplement drinks. As I got a bit older and more body conscious, I opted to have my gastrostomy removed and moved onto NG (nasogastric) tube feeding. This involved me passing a tube down my nose each night to have my feed then I would remove it each morning. I would say I was only at school for about 60%-70% of the time, I did struggle with school I think mainly for being in and out all the time and constantly trying to catch up but also, I didn't see the point of me being there unfortunately. When I was 23 I underwent surgery for a double lung transplant. Before my transplant I was on oxygen 24/7, requiring the need of a wheelchair from time to time as my lung function would drop to as low as 20%. I was on IV antibiotics the majority of the time which I would have as an inpatient this was so I could have physiotherapy 2-3 times a day as well as some medicines which couldn't be administered at home. At this point my social life was pretty much non-existent, if friends or family wanted to do something I would generally just be too tired or poorly. I had no interest in doing anything. When the transplant was first mentioned to me it terrified me! I somehow felt like I wasn't ill enough to need it. However, I agreed to go for the 3 day of tests to see if I was even a suitable candidate. It turned out I was, which of course was a great relief!! The decision has not been taken away from me! I remember meeting with the surgeons and just the feeling of how surreal it all was and this was hopefully actually going to happen! My two big worries at the time were dying on the waiting list, not even getting the chance after seeing this happen to friends in the past....and going on the list too soon and the transplant failing. I talked through all my worries with my consultant who is an amazing man and he just said to me 'Charlie, if you went on the list tomorrow it would not be too soon’, So I signed all the forms and got myself on THE LIST!! It was the Friday of a May Bank Holiday when I joined the transplant list, and from that moment I was told I was on the active list. It had been a hot bank holiday weekend and on the Sunday I had been spending it in a pub garden with some friends and family, when I got home I was so tired so went straight to bed. At 10pm my phone started ringing and I just knew straight away this was the call. Within about 30mins there was an ambulance ready to pick me up, I hadn't even got things prepared. I had never dreamt this was going to happen so soon! Two days on the waiting list, I just couldn't believe my luck! Waking up from the operation was such a great feeling but terrifying at the same time seeing so many machines and tubes. I still had a long way to go! After a few days had passed there were a few less wires and it was more comfortable to speak. Then after another week or so had passed I was able to get up and move about a bit easier. I had to learn a whole new medication regime; I was still on nebulisers for a few months but no more physio!! During the first year post transplant there was quite a bit of back and forth from the hospital. I suffered from narrowing in my airways from where the new lungs joined. I underwent a crazy amount of bronchoscopies, then ended up with two stents. After that first year though, I have been extremely lucky it really has been amazing! So this year I will be celebrating 16 years since I had my double lung transplant! I honestly can't explain just how much of a difference this has made to my life! From not working at all I started as a retail advisor and worked up to full time management. And now I’m an Account Manager. My biggest achievement of all though is having my son, Felix, who is now 10yrs old and keeps me very much on my toes. Cystic Fibrosis has thrown several things my way over the years, including having part of my bowel removed, my gallbladder out, I am diabetic, insulin controlled and have high blood pressure (not surprisingly!) And lastly my kidneys have been taking quite the hit over the years and I have been diagnosed with CKD – chronic kidney disease. Unfortunately, 2024 had something very different in store for me and I was diagnosed with Cancer, Stage 4 high grade Lymphoma, it was aggressive and at the time of diagnosis was already in my large & small intestine, liver, spleen, lymph nodes in my neck and in my nasal cavity. Probably one of the hardest conversations was telling my son Felix that mummy now has cancer. The cause of the Lymphoma was found to be linked with one of my anti-rejection medications. I couldn’t believe what had previously been keeping me alive and stopping my lungs from rejecting had now caused me to have cancer. It goes without saying this medication was immediately stopped. Due to my vast medical history treatment was not as straight forward and I had several hospital teams and Drs involved. I will be totally honest I thought my luck had finally run out, how on earth was my body going to cope going through chemotherapy!! Decision was made and I started with 4 rounds of immunotherapy which unfortunately didn’t work, and the cancer actually got worse. So on to chemotherapy it was, terrified to say the least…not only did I know I was going to lose my hair but also, I was so worried how ill I was going to be. And not wanting Felix or my friends and family to see me in that way again. The first round of chemo and I ended up in hospital for the best part of a week, I was being sick, was in horrendous pain and had no idea what was going on. They discovered that I had lleus of the bowel it had stopped moving due to one of the chemo drugs. After a few days of nil by mouth, a tube to keep removing acid/bile from my stomach every few hours, and a lot of laxatives things finally resumed as normal. But this meant they had to remove one that chemo drugs out of the 4 I was taking to prevent this from happening again. Thankfully this was the only admission I needed through my treatment. I had good and bad days as you would probably expect. On those good days I tried to do things with family and friends. On the bad days I honestly just didn’t want to move a muscle. The absolute torture of waiting on scan results is horrific, life or death moment, did it work? Please tell me after all that its worked! It did work, I am now in full REMISSION!! I finished my last chemo mid November. I’m back at work full time and finally getting my life back on track which feels amazing!! I am so thankful for my partner Casey, amazing family and friends who have supported me over the last year in particular. And to my Charlies Angels who have decided to organise a fundraiser in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Macmillan, both charities have supported me immensely.
