IN 11 years hosting Blue Peter, she appeared in a Bollywood movie, walked on hot coals and even broke a world record.
But Konnie Huq, whose record is for pinning 17 badges on a co-host’s shirt in one minute, says drawing and crafting was one of her favorite parts of the show.
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Konnie Huq is the head judge for our Xmas Cards For Kids campaignCredit: Rex
So today we’re unveiling her as the head judge for our Xmas Cards For Kids campaign, challenging kids to create designs to fund gifts for young cancer patients.
Konnie, 46, said: “I’m excited to see the drawings. They will be great and I am confident we can raise a lot of money to buy toys to brighten up Christmas for children with cancer.”
Last week we launched the campaign with the charity Young Lives vs Cancer. We want YOUR kids to make a festive drawing. It can be fun, or maybe sentimental, in black and white or color. It can be fancy or plain, as long as it’s on A4, A5 or A6 paper.
There are three age categories: five years and under, six to ten years and eleven to sixteen years. Our judges, including TV and radio host Gaby Roslin, a Young Lives vs Cancer Ambassador, will select a winning card design from each category.
These will be made by printed.com in limited-edition packs of 12 — four of each design — and sold to fund toys for children staying at Young Lives vs Cancer’s Homes from Home, where young patients and their families live near hospitals can stay during treatment.
Konnie lost her father to prostate cancer. This triggered her mother’s incipient dementia and she died three years later in 2017.
Konnie, an ex-volunteer with Cancer Research UK, says: “There are very few people who have not been affected by cancer in one way or another. But a child battling cancer – or losing a child to the disease – is like that. heartbreaking on another level.
“Children being treated for cancer at Christmas is terrible, but the Sunday Christmas card competition is great. It’s really magical that another child’s drawing helps to buy toys for them.”
Konnie is married to Charlie Brooker, the TV host and writer, and loves to tinker with their sons Covey, nine and seven-year-old Huxley.
She says: “It encourages children to develop creativity.
“Inviting your child to design a Christmas card is an easy way to do something important.
“The best thing to do is let the imagination run wild and think about the kind of pictures you like to look at.
“Do you like colorful and daring? Or line drawings or watercolors?”
Kim’s call for Ethan
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Kim Cass’ son, Ethan, died of cancer two years agoCredit: Neil Hope
MUM Kim Cass is calling on kids across the country to design a card.
She knows how hard life is for children who are being treated for cancer outside the home, as her son Ethan died of the disease in 2019 at the age of eight.
Kim, 41, from Pendeen, Cornwall, says: “You don’t know which way is up when your child is diagnosed, and if it had been around Christmas I would never have gotten any presents.
“This card campaign will make such a difference. Our daughter Kira is 15 and loves art, so she’s in on it.”
Office worker Kim noticed that one of Ethan’s eyes turned inward and called the doctor.
She and her husband James, 45, who works for a construction merchant, were told their son had brain cancer. He died five months later.
Kim says: “He knew he had a bad head and needed treatment. We didn’t tell him how sick he was because we wanted to give him as normal a life as possible.
How do you tell a child they won’t see their next birthday? That is not possible. Halfway through radiotherapy, he took a bath and came out with the question, “Why me? Will I get better?” I promised him he would.It was a lie, but I had to protect him.
“We stayed in a Young Lives vs Cancer Home from Home in Bristol. His treatment was hundreds of miles from home and this help made it so much easier.”
Simply email the above address with a photo of your child’s well-lit drawing and your or your child’s name, age, address and a few words about why they came in.
Keep the original design, on A4, A5 or A6 paper, safe in case it is one of the three winners and needs to be scanned to print. Conditions apply.
This is how you can donate
TO donate to Young Lives vs Cancer’s Homes from Home, go to www.younglivesvscancer.org.uk/cardsforkids.
Or text:
GIVE 5 to 70025 to give £5
GIVE 10 to 70025 to give £10
GIVE 20 to 70025 to give £20
Or call 0300 330 0803 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm)
You can also send a check to “Young Lives vs Cancer” with your name and address to: The Sun on Sunday Children’s Christmas Cards, Young Lives vs Cancer Campaign, 126 Fairlie Road, Slough SL1 4PY.
Don’t forget to put a stamp on the envelope.
As a supporter of Young Lives vs Cancer, you will receive call and post updates and news about calls.
You can change how you hear from the charity by emailing supporter.services@younglivesvscancer.org.uk or calling 0300 330 0803.
Texting costs a donation amount plus one standard network rate message.
Young Lives vs Cancer will receive 100 percent of your donation.
To unsubscribe from calls text NOCALL CLIC to 78866. To unsubscribe from SMS text NOSMS CLIC to 78866.
Texts are charged at your network’s standard messaging charges.
If you have any questions, please call Young Lives vs Cancer on 0300 330 0803.
Registered Charity Number 1107328 and Registered in Scotland SC039857.
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The Sun’s Xmas Cards for Kids campaign aims to help those in need
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Ethan Cass with mom Kim, dad James and sister Kira
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Kim’s son Ethan died five months after being diagnosed with brain cancer Alan Carr bursts into tears on Stand Up To Cancer over the tragic death of a father three moments after meeting his daughter
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