Several buildings in Edinburgh including Edinburgh Castle and The National Galleries at The Mound will Glow Gold this autumn following a cancer-awareness campaign begun by a group of Edinburgh parents whose children have had cancer.
One of the parents behind the campaign, Pam Neilson, was chosen by Jeremy Balfour MSP to be his Local Hero at the Official Opening of the Scottish Parliament at the beginning of July. She lost her little son Kai in January of this year. He had infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia which is an aggressive form of blood cancer.
Pam told The Edinburgh Reporter: “No parent thinks that their child is going to be diagnosed with cancer. Childhood cancer does not care or discriminate. It can enter your home at any time leaving you devastated and clutching on to your child for dear life. 10 children are diagnosed with cancer in the UK every day. Our aim is that increased awareness of early signs and symptoms with earlier diagnosis will lead to a change in the prognosis for those children diagnosed with childhood cancer.
“We need kinder treatments and more research. I need Kai’s life to count and his death to make a difference for future children. Childhood cancer is not rare and every day the oncology wards in the Sick Kids in Edinburgh and Glasgow grow as Childhood Cancer does not stop. It is relentless and has no prejudice.”
Other charities like Clic Sargent, CCLG and CCLASP have also supported the move. See more on the campaign Facebook page.
In Edinburgh the buildings which have agreed to glow gold include Edinburgh Castle. Nick Finnegan told us he was especially pleased to be able to accede to this request, although clearly the castle as an iconic building in Edinburgh is asked to take part in many other campaigns like this.
Others across Scotland include Airdrie Town Hall, Calum’s Cabin Isle of Bute, Clyde Port Building in Glasgow, Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Forres Mechanics FC Forres, Harvey Nichols Edinburgh, Hearts of Midlothian Youth Teams, Her Majesty’s Theatre Aberdeen, Livingston Designer Outlet, Royal Bank St Andrew Square, Scottish Executive at Victoria Quay, SSE Hydro Glasgow, St Andrews House Edinburgh, St Enoch Centre Glasgow, The Albany Greenock, The Beacon Arts Centre Greenock, The Falkirk Wheel, The Kelpies, The National Galleries and RSA Buildings at The Mound, The Titan Crane Clydebank, The Tontine Hotel Greenock and the Word Up Nightclub and Text Bar in Greenock.
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