Thomson Family Challenge
Corby Business Academy are delighted to share the Thomson Family Challenge.
Students Ashton in Year 7 and Khya in Year 10 are participating in a family Sub Zero challenge to raise funds for the Cynthia Spencer Hospice in memory of their Dad.
The family previously participated in an demanding Ben Nevis challenge in 2020 and raised an incredible £22,000 for the NHS and Scope. Younger sibling Caedan has Cerebral Palsy and the family wanted to help improve his physicalities to show him what was achievable and that having a disability is not always a barrier.
The family were fortunate to be featured on the very first airing of Channel 4's 'Steph's Packed Lunch' in September 2020 which helped raise awareness, encourage others and helped contribute to their fundraising success. As a result of the challenge, British past SAS trooper and survival expert, Bear Grylls sent a personalised message to Caedan. They were also contacted by Trueways Survival who were inspired by Caedan and wanted to gift him a children's survival course experience. After much consideration, the family decided that they wanted to involve all of the children and Trueways Survival agreed to help the family with their next challenge.
Plans were made to participate in a Sub Zero Arctic experience but the following year the family received some devastating news. Dad, Alan, began suffering some pains in March and by April he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Bowel Cancer. Just nine months later, unfortunately Alan passed away. Rather than spending the year training and preparing for a cold environment challenge, the family spent some quality time together to make many precious memories.
Shortly after Alan's passing, Mum, Lisa, was approached by Trueways Survivial in anticipation of an update on the family challenge but the revelation was a massive shock to all involved. They agreed to go ahead and support the whole family with the challenge in Alan's memory. However, Trueways Survival had a further surprise for the family. Dad, Alan, had previously spoken to the company about some personal wishes for the family to experience husky dog sledging and to view the Northern Lights. All children have celestial middle names and whilst Caedan and Ashton can view their stars, Khya has never seen an Aurora, also commonly known as the northern or southern lights.
In addition to this, the family were then invited back to 'Steph's Packed Lunch' for their final recording in December last year and most recently were featured on ITV Anglia news to raise awareness of their new challenge.
Next month, the family will be participating in their Sub Zero Arctic Challenge and experiencing extreme minus temperatures. They are hoping to raise £10,000 in the challenge to support the Cynthia Spencer Hospice in honour of their Dad.
We wish them all the very best of luck and cannot wait to hear how they succeed. For more information, or to donate, please follow the below links and see the below poster.
SUBZERO Fundraiser on Facebook
