Pendleton Sports Centre sponsors Stotfold 5k Challenge
Pendleton Sports Centre are proud to be sponsors of the Stotfold 5k Challenge on Sunday 27th July 2025.
The local event is back for 2025 raising money and awareness for DKMS, an amazing charity that fights blood cancer and supports patients in urgent need of stem cell transplants.
This amazing charity helped find a bone marrow donor for Stotfold girl Amelie after her fourth diagnosis of leukemia at just 12 years old.
If you would be interested in taking part sign up today!
Read on to find out a little bit more about Amelie’s story…
At the age of 3, Amelie was diagnosed with leukaemia and for almost a decade she has battled this awful disease with 4 relapses.
After Amelies last relapse in February 2024, chemotherapy alone was no longer a treatment option, and we were told she needed a lifesaving bone marrow transplant. Thankfully the charity DKMS were able to find Amelie a suitable match to be her bone marrow donor, a 34-year-old man in Germany, forever our hero. Amelie received her transplant is April 2024 and has since then fought a long and hard journey to get to recovery. She spent nearly 5 months away from home, 4 months of which were spent isolated in hospital. Although Amelie still has some way to go she’s looking forward to returning to school and doing normal 12 year old things very soon
Amelie’s Mum, Sofia, is her biggest supporter. For those that don’t know Amelie, she is the most inspiring, resilient and incredible kid you’ll ever meet – even with everything she’s been through she is kind, funny and has a crazy passion for fun and life.
Having watched Amelie suffer immense pain and trauma over the last 10 years, Sofia felt compelled to do something to push herself physically and give something back at the same time. So on 1st November 2025, Sofia is taking part in a 100km trek through the southern Moroccan Sahara, wild camping in the dunes, accompanied by camel. Sofia is taking part in this challenge along with Jen Powell and Lauren Bryder by her side.
They are taking on this challenge to say thank you to DKMS for giving Amelie this chance at life and to raise much needed funds for this amazing charity so they can continue to do the incredible work they do and save more lives.
Finding Amelie’s genetic twin wasn’t easy and for the whole family it was a gruelling wait to hear if a donor had been found, especially when her own family were not compatible.
There are so many people who are in need of a lifesaving transplant so please help by sharing Amelie’s story, by signing up to the donor register and donating to our fundraising page by scanning the QR code.
For Amelie and all the other children and adults out there, that have yet to start their adventure known as life. Thank you