Jacob Cooper was just 11 years old when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Being so young, Mr Cooper didn’t quite understand just how badly the common childhood cancer would affect him. But a few weeks into his chemotherapy he realised the harsh reality of the disease.
“There were times where I was in hospital for 100 days at a time in one room,” he said.
“I was crook for a couple of years, then I got better for a couple of years, but in 2015 I was diagnosed [with ALL] again.”
At the time, Mr Cooper and his family were living in Redhead near Newcastle, New South Wales. While in hospital, he was approached by a local charity called Charlie’s Run 4 Kids (CR4K), which offered to raise funds for him and his family.
“It’s hard to put into words what it meant to me and my family,” he said.
“It was just a massive weight off our shoulders.”
Over five days each year, the group runs about 150 kilometres from Seal Rocks to Dudley to raise funds for a child fighting cancer. Dudley local Cheyne Waddingham started the charity to help support a close family friend and their six-year-old daughter Charlie who was fighting cancer.
“It can be tough … most of us aren’t really runners,” Mr Waddingham said.
“But it’s not a race and we all really support each other.”
The group sponsored Mr Cooper in 2016 and raised more than $100,000.
“The money was incredible, but just the support of the crew … they did pretty much anything we needed,” he said.
“It’s a big family … it was just unconditional love.”
Mr Cooper received a bone marrow transplant in 2017 and five years on from the surgery was deemed cancer-free. For a few years, he helped out with the charity and, at 18, he signed up to be a full-time runner. Now 21, Mr Cooper has completed the run three times and has no plans on stopping.
“I want to give back to them because of how much they helped me,” he said.
“[The run] is a struggle but it’s different when you’re running with all the people you love and you’re running for a cause.
“I have to do it because I’ve made it through. I can’t not try and live my life to the fullest at this point.”
The event is now in its 10th year and has raised $1 million for children in need over the decade. Mr Waddingham initially started the charity with a couple of mates.
“We live in the best community in the world,” he said.
“A lot of people have got behind just a simple idea and we’ve made it into something really good.
“And that’s what Charlie would have wanted. She’s still the reason we do this.”
In 2013, Mr Waddingham heard of Charlie starting her own fundraiser and lined up a few business owners for sponsorship to raise money for her.
“I said I’d run from Seal Rocks to Dudley. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing,” he said.
When Mr Waddingham and five friends completed the first run they raised almost $40,000 for Charlie and her family, as well as the John Hunter Children’s Hospital.
Charlie died in 2015, aged eight, which devastated the local community.
Over the past decade, the event has grown significantly.
“This year, we had 30 full-time runners and some joining us for sections of the run and 150 kids joined us for the last 5km,” Mr Waddingham said.
“We raised $187,000, which is huge.”
The group has so far sponsored 10 children.
“We’ve got to the stage where the support from the community is just amazing,” Mr Waddingham said.
“It’s going to continue now, definitely.”