Hassocks Dad To Paddle Across Channel In Memory Of Daughter

A Hassocks man is seeking sponsorship to enable him to paddleboard across the English Channel in memory of his 10-year-old daughter who died with bone cancer.

Jamie BartlettBundy is taking on the challenge in memory of Pearl, who passed away in 2017 after being diagnosed with a form of bone cancer called Ewing sarcoma.

Jamie, 48, and his wife Rachel later set up #PearlPower, a Special Named Fund at Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG), to raise much-needed funds for research into finding kinder, more effective treatments for all types of childhood cancer with poor outcomes.

Since then, they’ve raised more than £100,000, supported by community events such as ‘Hassocks Goes Gold’, where their home village comes together each September to help raise funds and awareness of childhood cancer.

In October 2023, Jamie, along with his brother, John Bartlett, raised £2,500 by tackling their first punishing paddleboarding adventure. Their original ‘Paddle4Pearl’ challenge saw them cover 100km through torrential rain from Bowling Harbour on Scotland’s west coast to Edinburgh on the east, and the pair are now planning their next big effort.

“We really enjoyed doing it and raised a great amount. At Christmas, I was thinking of something else to do and came up with the idea of crossing the channel.

Photo: Jamie and John before their Scotland challenge

“Not many people have paddled across and that’s why me and my brother thought it would be a great challenge.”

John, 55, will again be joining him in August next year, with the determined duo hoping that their second Paddle4Pearl will raise in excess of £10,000.

To be able to undertake it, they first need sponsorship to cover the cost of a support vehicle and are appealing to local businesses for help.

Jamie said:

“We need to get a corporate sponsor to cover the cost of the support vehicle, which you have to do it because it’s a busy channel and have to be guided across.

“I’ve been in contact with a company, who are very good, very safe, you book a week’s window, and the idea is that you go out on a perfect day – it’s dependent on the tide, weather conditions, wind, all those things. So, you need an expert, and to also negotiate the busiest sea route in the world. With the cost of that, as well as the special seafaring boards, we will need is £4250.”

Crossing the 26.5 nautical-mile channel by paddle board will be no mean feat, and while the brothers are no strangers to pushing themselves, they know it will test both their physical and mental endurance.

Jamie, who will have just turned 50 when he takes on the challenge, said:

“I can’t wait, even though I know it’s going to be backbreaking, especially going the long-distance without a break and nowhere to stop for lunch, and you’ve just got to keep going.

“I’m nervous as hell, because it’s something I’ve never done before, but also very excited to be able to give it a go.”

He added:

“It’s Pearl that keeps me going. I can just keep going all going all day, compared to what she went through.

“It’s a challenge and I know it’ll be hard. But after seeing what my daughter and all those other children go through, and still smile, I feel like I’m paling in significance when compared to them.”

Jamie is documenting his paddle boarding journey on social media and hopes his efforts will also help raise vital awareness of childhood cancer and the need to find new treatments.

He said:

“There’s not enough awareness of just how brutal treatment is for children. We need more funding to save their lives and just to make their journey easier.

“It’s important for me to highlight that these kids need support, and more money, for more research.

“The money [raised] is vital but so is the awareness. And by getting out there and doing something like this, drawing attention to what we’re doing and why - the reality of it - I want people to understand childhood cancer.”

Jamie began to paddle board after his daughter’s death and he said that it’s “become a little escape from reality, to just be in nature”, explaining:

“I do long-distance paddles, five or six hours at a time.

“You get to a point where you can’t be anywhere else, you can’t be doing anything else. You’re just there with your own thoughts and because there’s no interferences, you come to terms with things, but in a beautiful environment. You settle into your thoughts.”

If you can help Jamie with his support vehicle sponsorship, please get in touch with him via email at [email protected] or on social media at https://www.instagram.com/paddle4pearl/

Find out more about #PearlPower at www.pearlpower.co.uk or https://specialnamedfunds.cclg.org.uk/pearlpower/