Rob tackles walk to say thank you (From Swindon Advertiser)

Rob tackles walk to say thank you

8:20pm Friday 10th February 2012 in News

DESPITE being diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumour, Rob Chew will be walking to raise money for Prospect Hospice later this month.

Rob, 48, from Abbey Meads, collapsed while working in London in December 2008, and following extensive treatment for an aggresive brain tumour, he was given a prognosis of up to nine months.

Soon after returning home, Rob met a community-based Prospect nurse specialist and started attending the hospice one day a week when he would take part in the art therapy groups, in which he discovered new talents.

Now, more than three years after he was first taken ill, Rob is no longer a patient at the hospice, and feels well enough to take part in its first fundraising event of the year — the Prospect Hospice Walk of Memories on Sunday, February 26.

He will be taking part to thank the charity for the support he has received in its day centre and in memory of his father, Brian, who died last year.

“Prospect Hospice has given me incredible support since I was first taken ill,” he said.

“When I first met Victoria, my Prospect nurse specialist, I was very unsure about what my future would be and how my illness would impact on my family.

“Victoria took control, helped me manage my symptoms and pain and with their help I have been able to become well enough to be discharged by the hospice.

“I’ve even been able to volunteer in the Prospect charity shop in Abbey Meads.”

Rob will be joining about 200 walkers taking part in the event.

He said: “Through taking part, I’ll be able to both raise money for the charity that has done so much to support me, and also to remember my dad, who died in May last year.

“I’ll be walking with my wife Natacha and my daughter Maulie, who both know how valuable the hospice’s support has been for me in the years since I became ill, and also to support me through the walk.”

Rob has already surpassed his sponsorship target with the support of his former boss.

His illness meant he had to give up his job as a media director for the specialist radio advertising agency Radioworks. Former boss, Radioworks’ CEO Michael Chanley Heaton, said he and his colleagues at the firm were only too glad to support Rob’s fundraising: “Rob and I have known each other for more than 20 years since we worked together at GWR and we have already raised money for Prospect through our own version of Movember last year, and we’re very pleased to sponsor him again as he raises money for the hospice through this walk,” he said.

There is still time to sign up to take part in Prospect’s Walk of Memories, a five-mile sponsored walk setting off from the Four Pillars Hotel near South Cerney at 10.30am. Registration costs just £8 for adults and £2 for children.

To register visit the website: www.prospect-hospice.net.