Fund-raising For The Love of Joni

This is the story of Joni, a brave little girl who is fighting cancer for the last couple of years. She was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, an extremely rare form of bone cancer when she was just 5 years old.

She has had multiple courses of chemotherapy, stem cell treatment, blood transfusions and a major operation to remove her right thigh bone and replace it with a metal bone.

After being in remission for 15 months, the cancer has returned. Joni has now been given a diagnosis of relapsed Ewing's sarcoma. She has restarted chemotherapy. But as there is no set protocol for treatment of relapsed Ewing's sarcoma, the future for Joni is uncertain.


Her parents, Holly and Kevin Stevens, are trying to raise as much money for her as they can in the hope that they can go overseas for treatment if and when it is needed. They need all the help and support they can get.

This is where my friend Deepali, comes into the picture. Deepali met Joni's mum Holly, who works at her local gym. Deepali, along with a bunch of regulars at Kearns Gym are doing their bit to fund-raise for Joni. They are going to jump out of a plane in a sky-dive next Sunday. All for the love of Joni.

Deepali has so far managed to raise half of her target of £1200. It was not easy. She has had hard-hearted moneyed 'friends' turning a cold-shoulder to the appeal. She has had people 'unfriend' her on Facebook because they thought she was spamming them when she made her appeal.

But Deepali has stood her ground. She continues in stead-fast support of her beliefs. She continues to be as generous and kind-hearted as I have always known her to be. She will be jumping out of that plane come Sunday, and has promised to share her photos with us.

It really does not take much. A few pounds could go a long way in the grand scheme of things. If you find it in your heart to donate For the Love of Joni, here is Deepali's fund-raising page.

You can read more about Joni's story on her Facebook page.