Round Table Children’s Wish was truly inspired after recently hearing about Carter Chatting’s powerful transformation, since he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia at the age of four, to being able to run his first 10k at only 9 years old!
Carter who is such a determined young boy, bravely fought the illness over four painful years before he rang the bell at Birmingham Children’s Hospital marking an end to his treatment.
During Carter’s illness, he was introduced to Round Table Children’s Wish who were delighted to grant his wish to visit Disneyland Pairs in 2018 with his sister Monica, mum Lucy and dad Matthew. He was extremely excited about his trip, especially as it was cancelled 3 times due to Carter being unwell, so it was wonderful for the family finally enjoying themselves, not to mention Carter who was delighted to meet his companion Woody from Toy Story. Carter loved Toy Story – his own toy Woody, the cowboy character from the film, remained by his side in hospital, keeping him company throughout lengthy and painful treatment.
“We’ve had the privilege of working closely with the Chatting family over the years and have grown a strong bond watching Carter grow up and become an inspiring role model.
The Chatting family is dedicated to helping other families going through childhood cancers and over the years through their own fundraising – Carter the Brave has gone on to raise an astonishing £238,000 for BCH, CLIC Sargents. They have also donated to Round Table Children’s Wish to help make wishes come true for children with similar illnesses.
Matthew and Lucy have continued to raise vital funds for Round Table Children’s Wish. Matthew has run several London Marathons including the virtual London marathon in October 2020 and will be joining the charity team once again in 2022. Lucy will also be swimming a marathon this October for BCH & RTCW – it’s certainly clear where Carter gets his willpower from!
After 5 years Carter is now finally feeling better and has followed in his parents’ footsteps by taking on his own fitness challenge in April. Carter’s 10k finish time was 1.07 with an average pace of 6.43 per KM which is amazing!!”
Elated mum explained, I think we are all so proud of Carter because he has been through so, so, much & even now still has quite severely pronated ankles following the chemo. He decided to do this run & did couch to 5K, step by step building up. Carter had many weeks when he couldn’t run or run as far as he wanted to but by end February, he said he was ready to do it. It was tricky as it was in Lockdown but there is also the worry that he may fall unwell again, so he was quite resolute on doing it! He raised a whopping £6000 that day in the run!! It was very emotional seeing him run over that line!
We are grateful to be part of Carter and the Chatting family’s journey and overjoyed to watch Carter grow into such a tenacious boy; he has faced extraordinary challenges. His determination is an inspiring story, and we believe his strength will encourage hope to those who are going through a similar experience.