'Inspiring Story'
TENBY OBSERVER - People Section - 09/06/03
If you want to be inspired, then an immediate trip to your nearest bookshop is highly recommended. For last week saw the launch of a new publication, 'For the love of Alice', which tells the remarkable story of the true courage and determination of two parents who are working together to save the life of their daughter in the face of appalling odds. Where most parents would trustingly put their destiny in the hands of hospital consultants, Carol and Dean Maddocks, of Dewsbury, Yorkshire, have launched a campaign which has projected them into the heart of British politics and gained them the ear of the Prime Minister, who has personally set out to change NHS policy to help Alice, who suffers from a rare from of anaemia.
Their inspiring story is told by Tenby-based author, Malcolm Stacey, who began his career selling newspapers as a schoolboy on Doncaster racecourse. Since then he has contributed to all the UK's national dailies and has made over 6,000 radio and TV programmes. He is best known for his investigative reports on BBC Radio 4. Malcolm Stacey is also a director of the internet broker, ShareCrazy.com, which was recently featured in the Observer. He now lives with his partner Jo and their children Robin, Jack and Eleri, in a restored Georgian house overlooking Carmarthen Bay. But this story is not just one of parents' struggle. Alice, a clever, healthy, pretty seven-year-old girl, did not have a care in the world, until the day she fell over in a friend's garden and her parents were unable to stop the tiny cut bleeding. Months later a diagnosis (a rare blood disorder - Aplastic Anaemia) was finally reached, and her parents were warned that Alice could expect only a short life unless a suitable bone marrow match could be found. Alice is a keen, intelligent girl, who looks forward to school and seeing her friends. She stoically accepts the necessary regular blood transfusions and hospital stays that make her life so different from other young children.
The remarkable Maddocks family has won support for their campaign from some famous people in the country, including Prince Charles, Sir Alex Ferguson and S Club 7. But this is a story without an end. Alice is now 10 and still searching for a bone marrow donor that could save her life.
*'For the Love of Alice' by Malcolm Stacey with Dean and Carol Maddocks, is published tomorrow (Thursday) by Robson Books, price £16.95. A royalty will go to the Alice Rose Trust for Sick Children.
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