'Hope and courage in the face of difficulty': The Telegraph Christmas Charity Appeal

0:02The Telegraph

0:18Tim, as you know, The Telegraph every year has a Christmas charity appeal to raise money for four worthy causes. and in 2025 we're supporting Prostate Cancer Research, the Motor Neurone Disease Association, canine partners that provide support dogs for people with disabilities and the Not Forgotten, which is a charity that supports army veterans. The newspaper always has a Christmas charity phone-in. We both took part earlier on in December. Wearing silly headgear. I wore a Santa's hat because I think it's the classiest thing you can wear And this year we raised a record£125 ,000. But there's still plenty of time to donate and we want everyone to do that.

1:03And to encourage them, we'd like to introduce you to some of the people involved with and affected by these very good causes. It's worth pointing out that all the people you're going to hear from next all spoke at our Carol concert, which again is another part of the Telegraph Christmas staple. and they include Johnny Ball. You remember Johnny Ball from our childhood, right? Father of Zoe, but more importantly, a sort of TV scientist in a way that explained how things worked and how things were made back in the 1980s. Hello, I'm Johnny Ball. It was so thrilling for me to be involved in the Telegraph carol concert at St Brides because it's just a lovely event to attend.

1:52And I was representing Prostate Cancer Research UK. When I arrived at the church, the church was completely covered in polythene sheeting for extensive renovations, which gave me a great opening line. And I said, well, it feels very Christmassy. Even the church is gift wrapped. And then I went on. Now, I was always a great friend of someone who was very busy at this time of year. This time of the year was the busiest for him. He was Harry Seacombe and he was singing in churches all over the place, very often on television. Harry was a great friend. When I met him, I met him backstage at a theatre and it was dark.

2:31And I said, can you find your way? He said, don't worry, lad, I've got braille feet. And he was just a great joy to be with. Sadly, Harry died of prostate cancer in 2001. I had another friend, or somebody I admire so much, was Bob Monkhouse, arguably the greatest technical comedian I ever knew. Bob was 10 years older than me, and sadly he died of prostate cancer some years ago, but actually put a lot of weight into the last few years of his life in pleading that we do more of prostate cancer. I'm the lucky one. I contracted prostate cancer in 2022. My doctor spotted it because my PSA reading was 30 when it's supposed to be below one.

3:17So I was quickly seen to, rushed in, three months of radiation treatment. And I'm cured. I'm cured because I'm younger than my two friends were. But now today, everybody at 50 or over, I think, should, if they're male, be checked for prostate cancer. It would save so many lives. Thank you. My name is Caroline and I'm speaking to you today on behalf of the wonderful Not Forgotten charity. I want you to picture a young female soldier, dressed in uniform, strong, proud, doing the job she loves. serving her country. Now picture that same female soldier being shot four times. The pain, the fear, and then the silence.

4:15In that moment life stopped. That soldier was me. I survived, but nothing about my life was the same again. I lost my purpose, my structure and my identity. I didn't recognise myself or know how to move forwards and I was struggling to be the mum my son needed me to be. And then I found the wonderful Not Forgotten. They didn't just invite me to an event. They saw me. They gave me hope, friendship, understanding and the space to look inwards and realise the person I am was still there. I just needed support to find her again. That's what makes a Not Forgotten special. That's what makes them unique.

5:12They're like family and families support you through everything, right? They lift you up just enough so you can stand and then walk beside you as you learn to navigate a new path. A life shaped by what you've been through but are no longer defined by it. Because of the not forgotten, my son has a mother who stands tall again. My pain is no longer his shadow. My strength is now his light. Thank you and Merry Christmas. Hello, I'm Jo, Joanna Hill, and this knows here, this is Barry. He's my canine partner. Almost 20 years ago, 20 years ago in January, I was squashed between two cars in a school car park.

6:02My children were all there watching. They were two, three, five and ten. My ten-year-old was actually standing next to me when it happened. And the first thing I knew was hearing myself screaming because I was facing into our car. The woman behind parked very safely in a space. She got up and went into school. But she left the car in drive with the engine running. And at that stage, cars could just drive through the handbrake. So it drove through its handbrake and then tried to go through me. My life changed in an instant. It's still difficult. Everything I was, everything I thought I was, that I identified with was taken away in that moment.

6:42And I didn't realise it immediately. But very soon I knew I couldn't be the mummy I'd been. I couldn't run the business I'd run. I couldn't be my friend, couldn't be the friend, the wife, the homemaker, the everything that I loved in my life changed. Cast forward till 13 years ago, my life changed again in a very, very different way by a dog. I came across Canine Partners at a stand at Nadex, at a disability exhibition, and I saw these dogs doing really clever things. They look like tricks, OK? They look like push, pull, tug, pick up, put away. But then you think about what they can do for someone.

7:15And I was just really amazed, but not at one point did I think it was relevant to me. I can see now that it's because I didn't think I was worth it. So much of me had vanished at the time of the accident and in the period after that. But my injuries mean that I have constant pain and that I use a wheelchair to get around. I did apply for a canine partner because the people persuaded me that maybe I was worth it and I should give it a go. Since then, dogs have literally transformed my life. It redressed independence, independence, balance. It was very strange. As soon as my first dog was attached to my wheelchair and responding to me, in that instant, literally, my life switched so that it didn't matter so much that I was dependent on other people because I had something, not only a dog dependent on me, but also being a part of me that I'd lost.

8:03I didn't need to ask for help so often. I didn't need to rely on other people so often. I didn't need to just sit still in one place waiting quite so often. Just incredible. My dogs have been absolutely specifically trained for me, which is remarkable. And then they tune in further. so each of my dogs for example has been able to predict pain before it happens so he will tell me barry will tell me about the pain before it's happened he'll come and rest his chin on my knee i could talk forever the transformation and the difference to my life is extraordinary as i as i say one thing um barry is going to retire in the next year or so because he's got a bad back so i will be without a dog and looking for another one.

8:46There are 375, I think, partnerships in the UK for people like me with dogs who at some point may want to need another one. And there is a list of people, of course, who would like to have a dog and don't have one yet. My life has been changed. I'm immensely humbled and I am grateful to be able to tell you. Thank you. Hi everyone, my name's Eleanor Dallet and I've been living with motor neuron disease since 2019 and I've been amazingly supported by the Motor Neuron Disease Association, of which now I am a trustee. I want to thank you all, all at The Telegraph, for being part of our future. Christmas is often a time to pause and to reflect on what truly matters.

9:31And for me, Christmas is a time of mixed emotions, a time for family and friends, and for remembering those no longer with us. I'm always thankful for each passing year because for me and my family these are years I thought that I wouldn't see. As I've said I was diagnosed in 2019 and I'm the fifth person to be diagnosed in my family and I'm the only one still living. It's a condition that strips away control of the body piece by piece and I saw that happen with my father and my aunt and I'm lucky. my symptoms have been quite slow progressing and with the discovery of a new treatment called Tofferson, my symptoms have now frozen in time.

10:18However, this treatment only works for those with a SOD1 variant. That said, this drug has given hope to our community, hope that more treatments and a cure could be on the horizon. My daughter put it perfectly when I told her the news that I was getting this treatment. She said, Mum, that's amazing because it gives us hope. Hope that a cure will be found in your lifetime. Hope is something I see every day in the MND community. The hope drives us to live for today, live for the moment and not to take anything for granted. But it doesn't mean denying the challenges that we face. Instead, it's choosing to see the light, even in the shadows.

11:06It's knowing that even in the hardest times love endures. Hope is something that we all should look for in everything we do. So today I want to offer you this hope, not just for me but for all of us. Hope that we will hold on to the moments that matter and hope that we will find courage in the face of difficulty. So I want to wish you all a Merry, Merry Christmas. Thank you.

11:39Those were just a few of the people The Telegraph is helping this year with our charity campaign. Details for how to support Prostate Cancer Research, the Motor Neuron Disease Association, Canine Partners and the Not Forgotten will be in the description below this episode. Otherwise, have a wonderful Christmas, however you're celebrating, and The Daily Tea will be back on Monday the 29th with a special investigative series.