Archie Brown, 11, faces weeks of radiotherapy following successful surgery - https://www.gofundme.com/f/archies-story?lang=en_GB&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=email
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00:00So guys, you're here today for the rowing event, the guys are going to row for 100km
00:08to try and increase the fundraiser a little bit, what are your thoughts on it?
00:12I think it's absolutely fantastic that we've got the support from the people in the forces
00:18who are initially the wife of the contact we have here has actually set up our fundraising
00:23page and Pete who's set up the event today is just trying to keep things going so yeah
00:29it's great, he's got all of his course mates involved and they're going to do this big
00:34effort in order to raise some money for Archie.
00:37What do you think about Archie?
00:38Yeah I think it's really nice that everyone's doing this.
00:43Are you glad that they're all supporting you by doing this because rowing 100km is a long
00:47way isn't it?
00:48Yeah.
00:4960 miles isn't it?
00:51And how have things been for you and the family recently?
00:56I've been up the rollercoaster to be honest, obviously three weeks ago we were just getting
01:04ready to start secondary school and coming to the end of the summer holidays, I was going
01:08to be changing, starting a new job, everything was going forward and then we just had a couple
01:14of incidents, Archie wasn't feeling particularly well and we took him into hospital.
01:20We got the news and since then it's escalated and we're just holding it together to try
01:27and do the best for Archie and move on to the next stage of his treatment to get him
01:33better.
01:34What has that experience been for you Archie?
01:36Yeah it felt a bit hard to find out all the stuff that happens but yeah.
01:46Bit scary wasn't it?
01:48Yeah.
01:49About the fundraiser, about this one on the rowing, where is all this money going to go?
01:54Is it all going to go to treatment?
01:55Is it split between a couple of things?
01:57So at the moment we don't know what's going to happen after the radiotherapy, so at the
02:02moment we are in a position where the house we have, everything is satisfactory, everything
02:09works as it is, but ongoing we don't know what that's going to look like, we're just
02:15not 100% sure of how things are going to look once we've finished all of this.
02:19We want to spend a bit of time with generosity on Archie and his sister as well and enjoy
02:25ourselves while we're in London because it's not a nice situation and people have been
02:28very kind so we're going to try and spend a bit of money on the kids, give them a few
02:33nice experiences they wouldn't have had otherwise.
02:35What's your response been to the fundraiser because it seems like a lot of people from
02:39all over the place have wanted to support you guys.
02:42It's been something else, when it initially went up I got a message from Pete and he told
02:47me that it had hit just over £1000 and I thought wow that's incredible, but it's just
02:52been going and going and we look through the list of people who have donated and see people
02:56that we haven't really had contact with for years and it just shows what a network of
03:01friends we have and the support that we've got.
03:04And what did you think about all those people supporting you Archie?
03:08It's really nice to find out how many people have been kind.
03:13That's brilliant.
03:14And how are you feeling ahead of going to London Archie?
03:17Excited for getting the treatment done and also excited to look around.
03:26I know, that's brilliant.
03:27And finally the guys are going to be setting up soon, are you guys going to be watching
03:31them row for the many hours that they'll be doing?
03:34Unfortunately we have got a hospital appointment this afternoon but we are going to go and
03:38give them a bit of a cheer on and get them started aren't we?
03:41Yeah.
03:42Are you going to give them a big cheer, are you going to be supporting them Archie?
03:49So Peter you've set up the 100km row to raise money for Archie and his family, how do you
03:54think it's going so far?
03:56It started off well, I didn't realise it was going to be that difficult, I've just done
04:00my quick 1000m and I was a little bit dizzy but everyone seems up for it, I think it's
04:04going to be a good challenge, it's more just to raise awareness for Archie's condition
04:10and if anyone else's parents think something might not be right then just get a check.
04:16And what do you think of all the guys rowing around the pools like this?
04:20It's one of the most important things about being in the military, when someone needs
04:25help you get that family togetherness and everyone just wants to pitch in basically.
04:29So I'm really impressed with the people wanting to do the challenge in the first place and
04:34then all the donations and well wishes we've had this week have been really incredible.
04:38What have you thought of the donations so far and the amount of money raised, it's now
04:42at least 5 figures now isn't it?
04:45Yeah, I mean I couldn't believe it at the start, when my wife had the idea to set up
04:49the GoFundMe page it was just, I thought we might be able to raise £1500 or a couple
04:54of grand, at least take a month's worth of wages away, just that financial stress just
04:59to try and get Archie to London and get the video photo and then we were blown away by
05:03the support that it started to generate.
05:05So it just shows you, special boy, special family, he deserves it basically.
05:09The news must have been incredibly shocking for the family though because Kevin and Archie
05:14are very resilient and very positive about things, equally the news.
05:19I mean he's unreal Archie, close friends with my daughter and just to see him even
05:23so closer after the operation, he's still the same self, he's still cracking the same
05:28joke, his resilience is phenomenal and the way his mum and dad and his sister have dealt
05:32with it, it's just amazing.
05:34Like just thinking about what they've gone through in the last couple of weeks, honestly
05:38I don't know how, but still being able to smile and still exhaust himself, it's amazing
05:44really.
05:46You got the news that the majority of the brain tumour has taken away, obviously there's
05:49some radiotherapy to go but it seems to be going positive so far.
05:52Yeah, so the news was amazing but what I would say is we fell into a trap that we heard such
06:01good news and we thought right, that's it, he's going to be back to his normal self,
06:05this is awesome, it's out, let's focus on Archie and just get him better and then you
06:09get that shock diagnosis which obviously his family were thinking about but naively I didn't
06:14really think like that.
06:15And then when you find out it's brain cancer, it's like kicking the teeth and yeah, he's
06:20got to go again but if anyone can do it, Archie can do it 100%.
06:23And finally, how are the guys going to deal with the run so far?
06:27You said it could take approximately four hours to complete the challenge, do you think
06:31they'll do well with it?
06:32Yeah, I think we want to smash that four hour target, I think everyone has underestimated
06:38it, like you say, you get on there, you give it full of beans for a thousand metres, you
06:42don't realise how challenging that is but I think we'll smash it well within four hours.