South Elmsall mum who was diagnosed with leukaemia at 26 to lead Frickley Country Park charity walk in memory of young man who lost battle with disease

Jasmine Barnett organised the walk around Frickley Country Park to raise money for charity Blood Cancer UK in memory of Mathew Nutter, who died as a result of the illness last year.

Jasmine contacted Mathew’s family to ask if they wanted to be involved in the event.

The 5km walk will begin at 7pm, on March 25, at a bench in Frickley Country Park dedicated to Mathew.

The date will be four years to the day since Jasmine received the call that told her she was in remission.

She said: “I was going to do the walk by myself and then thought ‘why not make it a big community event, to raise awareness and raise as much money as we can?’.

"Fifty people have confirmed and there were 50 more ‘maybes’. If everyone donates a fiver it will be a decent amount for the charity.

"The idea of the walk is that everyone brings torches and headlights to try to light up the country park.”

Jasmine was diagnosed with cancer aged 26 and had to spend an entire month in isolation on the haematology ward at Pinderfields Hospital.

She said: “When I arrived, my platelet count was six – the normal range is 250 to 450.

"If I’d not attended my doctors appointment I’d probably have been dead within a couple of days.

"I barely got to see my own children due to the infection risk and how neutropenic I was. My youngest little boy turned three while I was in hospital too.

"Everything changed overnight. It seemed to put everything into perspective. It changed the way I view things. I used to always look forward to what was next but I try to live in the moment now."

Since the cancer went into remission Jasmine has been able to return to her work as a childminder, which she does alongside her mum.

She stays in touch with cancer charities and tries to help where she can.

She said: “Before I was poorly I was never involved in any fundraising work but now it's a lot closer to home and I have a strong connection with a lot of charities who helped me.

"I was out of work for six months and I’m self-employed so the charities helped me and it's a way of giving back.

“You're part of a different community – cancer, of course, has its downsides, but you meet wonderful people who are going through the same thing.”

Blood Cancer UK’s website explains leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma are some of the most common types of the illness.

Adults and children can both be affected.

More than 40,000 people are diagnosed with a blood cancer each year in the UK, and more than 250,000 people are currently living with blood cancer.

Visit bloodcancer.org.uk to donate.