Page 10 - Phonebox Magazine November 2014

Itwas Thomas Aquinas who once quoted “There is nothing on this earth more prized than true friendship”. I have no idea where I learnt that quote but it came to the forefront of my mind at the end of a recent interview with Newport Pagnell residents Nina Santini and the Pritchard family. Nina moved to the town from Brighton back in 2001 and Melanie and Robert Pritchard have lived in the town for about 14 years. In that time they have had two smashing young boys, Lucas (8)
and Zane now 4 years old.
Back in 2005 Nina was working in Kents Hill, Milton Keynes during which time she met Melanie. They got chatting and it wasn’t long before a beautiful friendship began to blossom.
As time passed that friendship would be needed more than ever when back in September 2010 Melanie’s first-born Lucas was diagnosed with Leukaemia aged just 5 years old. Then came the news in March 2012 that Melanie had been diagnosed with breast cancer. At this point I’m a little lost for words as to what to write. I cannot begin to imagine what an extremely anxious time it must have been, how physically and mentally demanding it was for everyone. I’m not sure how religious I am either but I do take inspiration from the saying “God gives the hardest battles to the strongest soldiers”.
And it seems that the strongest always
manage to deal with hardship and testing times in a positive fashion. It was during these tough times that the Pritchard’s were able to find the strength and focus to raise money in order to help others affected by similar circumstances. The family is very fitness focused with Robert leaving his estate agent life behind to retrain as a fitness instructor and participating in various marathons, running from MK to London and Cambridge to Oxford and raising money in the process. Robert says all this helped him mentally to focus. Melanie swims, cycles and looks after herself with plenty of other fitness activities. There have been quizzes, cake sales, music events, pampering evenings and more recently, skydives (that’s right Melanie jumped out of a plane). So far they have raised over £10,000 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. To me this is an incredible thing, to think of others when facing such demanding, relentless circumstances themselves.
Melanie is due for reconstructive surgery and Lucas receives his final treatment in January.
Little Lucas is a wonderful fella, despite being a Chelsea fan (no one is perfect). Throughout all of this he has managed to excel in reading, art and learning the clarinet; all this whilst having to take a lot of time out of school. Lucas is also a budding publisher / editor and has various comics and newspapers that he
Staying Positive During Difficult
Mark St
From left to right: Lucas, Rob
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10 Phonebox Magazine