Isle of Wight woman Natalie Blandford – who suffers from a rare form of incurable facial cancer – has written a wish list of the dreams she wishes to come true.
Natalie’s story, first reported on Island Echo, came to the attention of the national press last week when it appeared in an article in The Sun.
An online fundraiser for Natalie has already raised more than the £3,000 required for her to be able to watch her favourite team, West Ham United, in a private box. The money donated now stands at £4,510 with sums raised above the target amount to be spent on Natalie’s remaining dreams.
Natalie’s wish list includes riding in a combine harvester, going on a boat ride up the river and having lunch in a steam train.
Natalie is currently staying with her mother in Cambridgeshire to have treatment at a Cambridge hospital but hopes for a future return to the Isle of Wight. If anyone is can help Natalie achieve those dreams that have yet to come true, you can contact her cousin Anne Hunt via Natalie’s GoFundMe page.
Updating the GoFundMe page, Anne has said:
“Wednesday last week was a tense day for the family, waiting for a phone call from the consultant to let Nat know if the chemo had made any difference.
“Luckily we had some good news! The chemo has shrunk the tumour, and it hasn’t spread any further. This means that Natalie will be shortly begin a gruelling round of chemo and radiation therapy, every day for 6 weeks. Her condition is still incurable, but this should hopefully give us more time! More dreams to make happen!
Article continues below this advertisement “Nat will find out next week when the treatment will start. During the treatment, obviously she won’t be up for ticking anything off her bucket list. As soon as she does start on it, we will update with photos.
“Thank you everyone for your support and generosity. I have a rough plan for ticking off most of her list and will get it all sorted and booked once her treatment has finished!”
The delays to Natalie’s treatment caused by the COVID-19 lockdowns are believed to be partly responsible for her condition becoming incurable. Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely – who has questioned much of the science behind the lockdowns –said:
“I was very sad to read about Natalie’s story and I’m sure many people will be touched by it. Clearly, Natalie’s case needs to be looked at very carefully to see if things could have been done differently.
“On a general point about lockdowns and access to healthcare, I have said before that I fear that some of the lockdowns may have done more harm than good. While we all understand action needed to be taken to protect the most vulnerable, questions need to be asked about whether things could, or should, have been done differently.”
