Trent student with cancer raises £6000 for charity that helped her

Nothing has been able to stop Nottingham Trent student Nathalie Holt, who has raised more than £6000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust after an online campaign.

The Spanish and Linguistics student was inspired to give something back after she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma two months ago and was cared for by the Teenage Cancer Trust. The JustGiving page had the original target of £1000, and has beaten that amount six times over, with well over 200 donations so far.

When asked about why TCT is so important Nathalie said: “It’s a really good cause, the Nottingham Teenage cancer trust have made everything a lot easier for me and countless others. People travel from quite far to go specifically to Nottingham, myself included.

“There’s also a huge space outdoors, which is nice, and you can get chemotherapy on the couch watching TV rather than in a dentist’s chair. When I stayed there it didn’t feel like I was in a hospital, just in nice surroundings.”

But Nathalie hasn’t stopped there as she has also donated nine inches of her hair to the Little Princess trust, a charity that provide wigs for cancer patients.

Her father, brother and boyfriend have done the same and she said it was “lovely” that they had all shown their support, “it looks really stupid when we’re walking  along together”.

Nathalie’s friends and family have really gone the extra mile in their support

She added:”I’ve always had long hair and I knew I was going to lose it (from the chemotherapy) but I think for a child, hair would be way more traumatic to lose. If I could help someone out along the way I thought I might as well.”

Nathalie has just finished her second cycle of chemotherapy, and remains positive: “there are loads of positives which come out a life-changing situation. You know who’s there for you. Everyone’s been quite surprised it’s raised so much but it’s the least I can do whilst I’m still receiving treatment.”

Donate to Nathalie’s JustGiving page here.