A summer fundraiser has been set up by a South Yorkshire woman with a love of netball that aims to give back to the hospital treating her for cancer.
Louise Holland had a malignant melanoma removed from her abdomen last year, after it was identified as cancerous in November 2022. However, it was discovered the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, which required chemotherapy to treat.
She underwent treatment at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield, and all donations from the netball tournament she will host in June will be donated to Weston Park Cancer Charity.
“When you’re first diagnosed, you feel shocked, devastated and wonder how long you have left to live,” said Miss Holland, 39.
“But then I had this bright idea that I’d run a netball tournament to thank Weston Park for helping me and my loved ones through this traumatic time.”
Photo credit: Louise Holland
Miss Holland has always loved netball, having played regularly at school. She joined her first adult team in 2017 after moving to the village of Auckley, to meet new people in her community.
Now, she plays on Mondays and Wednesdays and spoke of the amazing support her “netball family” have given her through the difficult time.
According to Cancer Research UK, nearly 17,000 new cases of melanoma skin cancer are diagnosed each year, but it has an 87% survival rate.
“With the netball community, we’re a family. We support each other and we’ve got each other’s backs,” she said. “I couldn’t ask for better friends. Not just in my teams, but the wider netball community.”
Miss Holland said there were few signs of her cancer before she was diagnosed, and she encouraged people to regularly check their skin, use high-factor sun cream and be wary of using sunbeds too often.
Her netball tournament is taking place on 22 June at New College Doncaster, near Auckley. It is being hosted by the Doncaster and District Netball League, and there is still time to register to play.
You can email doncasteranddistrictnetball@gmail.com and costs £100 per team. Alternatively, you can donate to Miss Holland’s JustGiving page to help her reach her £1,000 target.
Information on the symptoms of cancer is available at the Cancer Research UK website.
