WHEN Peter Blyth saddled up for a charity bike ride from his Mumbles local to Swansea’s French twin city of Pau in 1990, he
had no idea that 17 years later the beneficiary would play a big part in his family’s life. The Beaufort Bikers, drawn from regulars at the Beaufort Arms in Norton, raised £7,452 for the then newly formed city-based children’s cancer charity Christian Lewis Trust. Fast forward to 2005, and Peter’s son Lewis was diagnosed with life-threatening acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) — a cancer of blood-forming cells in the bone marrow. Three painful and worrying years followed until last summer, when the eight-year-old went into remission. Medics at the Children’s Hospital of Wales in Cardiff had delivered the result Peter and his wife Lynne had been praying for. But the trust also played its part and the couple are keen to pass on their gratitude as it celebrates 20 years of work. Lewis’s eating habits were heavily influenced — and not for the better — by his treatment. A five-day course of steroids once a month caused him to want to eat more than usual, but the rest of the time he would lsoe his appetite. The couple sought outside help to turn things around. “Lewis was not eating properly and we thought we needed help with that,” said Lynne, of King George Court in Derwen Fawr.
“We asked at the hospital and someone mentioned the Christian Lewis Trust, which had play therapy for patients and siblings.”