Whitby's Evie Hodgson to perform at special fundraising concert
Nine year-old Evie will be taking part in a once-in-a-lifetime event tonight
There is going to be a special fundraising concert tonight in Whitby dedicated to Evie Hodgson.
The nine year-old girl from the town was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia in May 2020 before having a life-saving bone marrow transplant back in January this year.
She is going to be a special guest at the once-in-a-lifetime event at Whitby Pavilion from 7.30pm where she will be singing a few songs herself.
Evie said:
"I've had weekly singing lessons with my singing teacher Abigail and if you want to hear the songs, you'll have to come on the night! I'm quite nervous, mostly excited but yeah, I'm a bit nervous."
Evie's mum is Tina Hodgson and she said:
"Evie's very excited for the concert but the nerves are really starting to kick in now. She just keeps saying about how nervous she's going to be but I know so many of her friends are going to support her, and I think if she sees their little faces in the audience it'll give her a boost and hopefully them nerves will disappear.
"It's really overwhelming. I mean to us, she's the most amazing little girl in the world and when they reached out to us, it just made me realise how much the community have been behind Evie during this really difficult time, and it was so lovely and so heartwarming for them to be thinking of Evie like that.
"Evie's become a little bit of a superstar in our town and it's just really lovely. We've had such a hard year and we feel as though this concert is going to kind of close that chapter.
"She wants to say 'stay strong' and thank you to everyone who's supported us as a family and especially Evie through this horrific journey with aplastic anaemia and thank you for sharing her story, for raising awareness of the stem cell register which really does save lives.
"Please come along. Come and watch an amazing show which features Evie, she's going to be singing some songs which are fitting with the theme."
About the concert
'Someone Like Evie' will be a night of live music and charity fundraising to celebrate the courageous fight of Evie.
It has been produced by Whitby based, Chameleon Music Marketing, and it is hoped that the once-in-a-lifetime event and live auction will raise much needed funds for Evie’s choice of charities, Anthony Nolan and Aplastic Anaemia Trust, to make sure that someone like Evie will be supported when they need it the most.
Since being diagnosed in May 2020, Evie has, along with her family, selflessly dedicated her time to raising funds for the charities that helped to find her a bone marrow transplant, ensuring that their vital work can continue. Through her work she has also recruited over 25,000 new life saving stem cell donors and four of those donors have gone on to be a match for people in need.
Whitby Pavilion will host the event with the evening being led by Katie Markham as Adele from ‘Someone Like You’ with a six-piece band.
Katie said: “It feels amazing to be able to raise money for such valuable causes, Evie is a real inspiration and I can’t wait to sing with her. It’s going to be an amazing night!"
Rowena Bentley, Senior Community Fundraising Manager at Anthony Nolan, said: "We are extremely grateful to Chameleon Music Marketing for putting on this fantastic event to raise money for Anthony Nolan.
"Evie and her family have witnessed the lifesaving work of Anthony Nolan first hand and we are happy to hear that Evie is doing well following her stem cell transplant earlier this year.
"The funds raised by the Someone like Evie event will enable us to carry out vital research and recruit potential stem cell donors to the Anthony Nolan register – any one of whom could give a second chance of life to someone in need of a stem cell transplant."
Stevie Tyler, Chief Executive Officer of Anthony Nolan said: "We are really grateful to the Hodgson family and everyone involved in organising this event. It is a great way to raise awareness of aplastic anaemia, a rare type of bone marrow failure.
"As a small charity we really appreciate the donation, it will really help us to continue to support people with aplastic anaemia and their families, as well as fund vital research. Thank you Evie and family."