The first Cumbria Cyclones Touch competition was held at Whitehaven Rugby League Club on Sunday, 25 October and raised over £1,000 for us
Ten teams graced the ground to show their support.
The event was organised by Andrew Beattie, from Whitehaven, whose daughter, Elsie, now a year old, had pneumococcal meningitis in July this year.
After having a two-hour seizure in A&E, Elsie spent time in West Cumberland Hospital before being transferred to the RVI where she started fitting again seven miles out of Newcastle. She continued to have small fits over the next few hours.
Elsie spent 10 days in hospital, suffering from Todd’s palsy as a result, which left her left arm and leg unable to move.
Elsie is now at home and is lovely as ever. Her mobility is improving each week and hopefully it returns in full. She has started crawling and pulling herself up to stand by herself which is an amazing achievement.
Andrew’s father also had meningitis in 2007 before being diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease and later passing away.
Getting local teams togeth
"What started as an idea of getting some local teams together to raise money, the competition ended up hosting a smorgasbord of Touch talent. Local teams, some thrown together at the last minute, were filled with talented individuals from across West Cumbria."
"There were also teams from far and wide that contained a number of current England Touch representative, Scotland Touch representatives, NTS level players and CTS competitors – not a bad effort for an event run by a club that doesn’t even exist yet!"
"The outcomes of the day were for people to come and try out the game. Men, women, young, old, experienced and newcomers were welcome and all got involved on the day. The most important outcome was to raise money and awareness about the disease."
"Thanks must go to all the people who helped out including: Mark Shaw, Carole Shaw, Helen McDowell, Sam Cater, Laura Hocking, Tommy Johnson, Mark Stamper and Amanda Hewer."
Andrew Beattie, Organiser
