Page 15 - Eagle Eye Summer 2021

Bad guy doing some good
By Cpl Hemms
My son Theodore (aka Teddy) was born premature at 35.1 weeks on 27 November 2020 and soon after his birth he was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Addenbrooke Hospital. Ever since his 14-week scan, we knew we had a difficult time ahead. There, my wife and I were told that there was a significant issue with Theodore’s left kidney, which may require surgery shortly after birth.
Theodore was scanned every week after that point and his diagnosis changed several times from a Multi Cystic Dysplastic Kidney (MCDK) To a Multi Cystic Nephroma, which is a rare benign kidney tumour. At present the two teams, one based at Addenbrooke and the other at Nottingham are confident it’s the MCDK. Although both of Theodore’s kidneys will be closely monitored.
May The Fourth Be with You
I’ve been a Star Wars fan ever since my parents rented Return of the Jedi (ROJ) on VHS for my older brother’s birthday. I watched ROJ several times over the course of the rental, which back then was 3 days. Since I was 18 years old, I wanted authentic Stormtrooper armour of my own, although like so many before me I had to wait until I was much older to afford one. It’s not a cheap hobby with the accessories, plus there is additional upkeep only adding to the price tag.
I wanted to do something special to lift the spirits around station and raise some money for a very worthwhile cause. As the 4th of May is officially Star Wars Day, I invited fellow fans from the station to join me in raising awareness of Addenbrooke Charity Trust. Station personnel were able to make donations via my Just Giving page or in two collections buckets.
We arrived in plenty of time to set up the table outside Pathfinder building main entrance, although mother nature had other ideas. The strong winds made it impossible to lay out the charity’s posters and banners on or around the table. We prevailed and utilising the yellow and black hazard tape, managed to set up a decent looking table.
As the weather threatened rain, we decided to relocate to Skyways a little earlier than planned, to catch the 10am rush to Costa. Some of the reactions were quite hilarious, there were a few station personnel caught off guard as they came into Skyways. We even
had a Star Wars fan come from the top floor of Skyways to get some pictures to show his son.
Revenge Of The 5th
During the afternoon on 4 May, I was contacted by Rachael Dexter, whose husband is based at RAF Wyton. After seeing the pictures my wife Cindy posted online, she suggested conducting another collection outside of Wyton on Hill Primary School the following day.
The children absolutely loved it and patiently waited their turn to put some coins into the buckets and have a socially distanced picture. The best quote from the day was from a boy who turned to his mum and said, “See Mummy, Stormtroopers do exist.”
The force was certainly on our side that day. It was raining quite heavily as we travelled to Wyton on Hill and we were quite expecting for the event to be cancelled. Thankfully that was not the case and periodically, we even had some sunshine.
Over the course of the two days we manage to raise a total of £315.72p for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I’d like to take the opportunity thank you to all of those who donated and took the time to stop and have a chat in-spite of the cold. I didn’t catch your name however I’d like to thank the Royal Navy AB from Pathfinder, who tried his best to help me set up the posters and banners.
I’ve been a Star Wars fan ever since my parents rented Return of the Jedi (ROJ)
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