Parents’ charity leap for Callum

CHARITY Jump . . . Callum Penney with mum Helen Crolla (left) and godparents Martin and Tracy Cheeseborough.

BRAVE Callum Penney’s battle against cancer has inspired his mum and dad to do a 10,000ft parachute jump.

The seven-year-old is in remission after undergoing six months of gruelling chemotherapy for a rare form of Hodgkin’s disease.

Callum was five when every parents nightmare came true for Helen Crolla and Paul Penney, who will take to the skies on June 12.

They found a lump on his neck which was initially diagnosed as mumps. The Higher Failsworth School pupil then went through months of tests, including an inconclusive biopsy, when it failed to go away.

The lump was eventually removed in November, 2008 and diagnosed as lymphoma, but Helen and Paul were told that that it shouldn’t come back.

However, it returned eight months later and the couple of Roman Road, Failsworth, were given the devastating news that Callum had a slow growing form of Hodgkin’s Disease.

Scans showed that it had spread to his tonsils and that he also had shadows on his neck, and back.

He underwent an aggressive form of chemotherapy and Helen (30) said: “We were just devastated. We couldn’t believe it. He had gone through all these tests and to hear that at the end of it was just heart breaking.

“Callum is a really good boy, he just said ‘okay mum’ and got on with it like kids do. He coped really well.

“Don’t get me wrong, he has had his up and down days when he was going through chemotherapy. Most of the days he was really tired and some times he was really emotional.

“I have had my up and down days. It is a weird situation to be in. Some days you just get on with it, some days you just sit there thinking about it.”

Callum went to school part time when he was undergoing chemotherapy and also continued to attend the Academy School of Performing Arts.

The academy is having a sponsored danceathon on Wednesday in aid of the Lymphoma Association while Callum’s school also raised money for the charity.

Helen works for Network Rail, which raised more than £2,000 for a holiday for the family.

Now she and Paul, who also have a four-year-old daughter Alisa, are preparing do a parachute jump for the association.

The children’s godparents, Tracy and Martin Cheeseborough, are also taking part and Helen added: “I know it sounds a bit mad but I did not want to do a marathon or a run, a swim or a sponsored walk. I wanted to do something different.”