HMS Collingwood personnel row to raise money for boy with brain cancer

The News, Portsmouth

Archie Brown, 11, faces weeks of radiotherapy following successful surgery - https://www.gofundme.com/f/archies-story?lang=en_GB&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=email

Transcript

00:00So guys, you're here today for the rowing event, the guys are going to row for 100km

00:08to try and increase the fundraiser a little bit, what are your thoughts on it?

00:12I think it's absolutely fantastic that we've got the support from the people in the forces

00:18who are initially the wife of the contact we have here has actually set up our fundraising

00:23page and Pete who's set up the event today is just trying to keep things going so yeah

00:29it's great, he's got all of his course mates involved and they're going to do this big

00:34effort in order to raise some money for Archie.

00:37What do you think about Archie?

00:38Yeah I think it's really nice that everyone's doing this.

00:43Are you glad that they're all supporting you by doing this because rowing 100km is a long

00:47way isn't it?

00:48Yeah.

00:4960 miles isn't it?

00:51And how have things been for you and the family recently?

00:56I've been up the rollercoaster to be honest, obviously three weeks ago we were just getting

01:04ready to start secondary school and coming to the end of the summer holidays, I was going

01:08to be changing, starting a new job, everything was going forward and then we just had a couple

01:14of incidents, Archie wasn't feeling particularly well and we took him into hospital.

01:20We got the news and since then it's escalated and we're just holding it together to try

01:27and do the best for Archie and move on to the next stage of his treatment to get him

01:33better.

01:34What has that experience been for you Archie?

01:36Yeah it felt a bit hard to find out all the stuff that happens but yeah.

01:46Bit scary wasn't it?

01:48Yeah.

01:49About the fundraiser, about this one on the rowing, where is all this money going to go?

01:54Is it all going to go to treatment?

01:55Is it split between a couple of things?

01:57So at the moment we don't know what's going to happen after the radiotherapy, so at the

02:02moment we are in a position where the house we have, everything is satisfactory, everything

02:09works as it is, but ongoing we don't know what that's going to look like, we're just

02:15not 100% sure of how things are going to look once we've finished all of this.

02:19We want to spend a bit of time with generosity on Archie and his sister as well and enjoy

02:25ourselves while we're in London because it's not a nice situation and people have been

02:28very kind so we're going to try and spend a bit of money on the kids, give them a few

02:33nice experiences they wouldn't have had otherwise.

02:35What's your response been to the fundraiser because it seems like a lot of people from

02:39all over the place have wanted to support you guys.

02:42It's been something else, when it initially went up I got a message from Pete and he told

02:47me that it had hit just over £1000 and I thought wow that's incredible, but it's just

02:52been going and going and we look through the list of people who have donated and see people

02:56that we haven't really had contact with for years and it just shows what a network of

03:01friends we have and the support that we've got.

03:04And what did you think about all those people supporting you Archie?

03:08It's really nice to find out how many people have been kind.

03:13That's brilliant.

03:14And how are you feeling ahead of going to London Archie?

03:17Excited for getting the treatment done and also excited to look around.

03:26I know, that's brilliant.

03:27And finally the guys are going to be setting up soon, are you guys going to be watching

03:31them row for the many hours that they'll be doing?

03:34Unfortunately we have got a hospital appointment this afternoon but we are going to go and

03:38give them a bit of a cheer on and get them started aren't we?

03:41Yeah.

03:42Are you going to give them a big cheer, are you going to be supporting them Archie?

03:49So Peter you've set up the 100km row to raise money for Archie and his family, how do you

03:54think it's going so far?

03:56It started off well, I didn't realise it was going to be that difficult, I've just done

04:00my quick 1000m and I was a little bit dizzy but everyone seems up for it, I think it's

04:04going to be a good challenge, it's more just to raise awareness for Archie's condition

04:10and if anyone else's parents think something might not be right then just get a check.

04:16And what do you think of all the guys rowing around the pools like this?

04:20It's one of the most important things about being in the military, when someone needs

04:25help you get that family togetherness and everyone just wants to pitch in basically.

04:29So I'm really impressed with the people wanting to do the challenge in the first place and

04:34then all the donations and well wishes we've had this week have been really incredible.

04:38What have you thought of the donations so far and the amount of money raised, it's now

04:42at least 5 figures now isn't it?

04:45Yeah, I mean I couldn't believe it at the start, when my wife had the idea to set up

04:49the GoFundMe page it was just, I thought we might be able to raise £1500 or a couple

04:54of grand, at least take a month's worth of wages away, just that financial stress just

04:59to try and get Archie to London and get the video photo and then we were blown away by

05:03the support that it started to generate.

05:05So it just shows you, special boy, special family, he deserves it basically.

05:09The news must have been incredibly shocking for the family though because Kevin and Archie

05:14are very resilient and very positive about things, equally the news.

05:19I mean he's unreal Archie, close friends with my daughter and just to see him even

05:23so closer after the operation, he's still the same self, he's still cracking the same

05:28joke, his resilience is phenomenal and the way his mum and dad and his sister have dealt

05:32with it, it's just amazing.

05:34Like just thinking about what they've gone through in the last couple of weeks, honestly

05:38I don't know how, but still being able to smile and still exhaust himself, it's amazing

05:44really.

05:46You got the news that the majority of the brain tumour has taken away, obviously there's

05:49some radiotherapy to go but it seems to be going positive so far.

05:52Yeah, so the news was amazing but what I would say is we fell into a trap that we heard such

06:01good news and we thought right, that's it, he's going to be back to his normal self,

06:05this is awesome, it's out, let's focus on Archie and just get him better and then you

06:09get that shock diagnosis which obviously his family were thinking about but naively I didn't

06:14really think like that.

06:15And then when you find out it's brain cancer, it's like kicking the teeth and yeah, he's

06:20got to go again but if anyone can do it, Archie can do it 100%.

06:23And finally, how are the guys going to deal with the run so far?

06:27You said it could take approximately four hours to complete the challenge, do you think

06:31they'll do well with it?

06:32Yeah, I think we want to smash that four hour target, I think everyone has underestimated

06:38it, like you say, you get on there, you give it full of beans for a thousand metres, you

06:42don't realise how challenging that is but I think we'll smash it well within four hours.

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