Welcome to the DT38 December newsletter, Channel38.
In this festive edition our Co-Founder Tracy Tombides takes a look back at the year and laments on the charity’s achievements and successes.
DT38 raises awareness of testicular cancer around schools and in communities in the UK, Australia and further afield in memory of Dylan Tombides.
2022 – A Year to Remember for All the Right Reasons
As I reflect on a very busy year after a very difficult period in both the UK and Australia, I’m drawn to remembering the large number of people who continue to step forward to support DT38.
When we launched the charity seven years I genuinely couldn’t have imagined quite how generously so many people would offer up their time and energy to help us help others by talking about testicular cancer.
Of course many great people stepped up from the start but since then our work has attracted so many fresh faces who want to stand side-by-side with us to make a difference.
My son Dylan made an extraordinary impact in his short life and the fact that his story continues to inspire so many people is of great solace to me and the Tombides family.
People continue to write to me sharing her own experiences with testicular cancer and tell how much of a difference it has made knowing that DT38 is there.
Of that I am immensely proud.
This year has seen the largest increase in new DT38 Ambassadors in our history and I believe that is – in large part – because of the way Dylan imbued positivity during his battle with testicular cancer.
We are reaching more men and boys in Australia, UK and further afield than ever to educate them about the risks of testicular cancer and the importance of self checking.
Our Check 1-Two Campaign – which encourages men and boys to check themselves down under on the first day of every month continues to go from strength to strength.
Massive thanks to Sir Trevor Brooking, Geoff Pike, Tony Gale, Matt Upson, Gary Carson, Kieran Sadlier, David Genat, Jimmy Walker, George Audin with Ibis Junior FC and Danny Dixon for taking part in videos in 2022 for Check 1-Two.
Our On The Ball podcast – organised by brilliant DT38 Ambassador Rhys Ryan – continues to go from strength to strength.
This year’s episodes included interviews with Harry Redknapp, Mile Jedinak and Martin Tyler with many exciting guests set up for 2023!
You can listen to all episodes by searching for On The Ball wherever you get you podcasts.
This year we teed off at the first ever DT38 Golf Day down under and it was a massive team effort to make it happen. Thanks to all sponsors and everyone involved.
In the UK our Golf Day built wonderfully into its second year. We’re so grateful to E13 Events and Terry Moncur of Langdon Hills Golf & Country Club for the huge effort they put in.
Events are a big part of our fundraising and it’s that fundraising that allows us to keep helping to save men’s and boy’s lives.
And so the success of Awareness Below the Belt – our White Collar Boxing event – in November is a big deal for us and this year was outstanding. As ever big thanks to Dom Shepherd, Tony Liston, the sponsors, helpers and, of course, the boxers, for their courage continues to astound me!
In April a special DT38 charity football match was held at Hume City FC in support of footballer Danny Dixon – now a DT38 Ambassador – who is recovering after a battle with testicular cancer.
Later that month we saw the annual DT38 Awareness Day at West Ham United followed by matches dedicated to DT38 and Dylan’s memory at Perth Glory FC and Stirling Macedonia FC.
One event we certainly weren’t expecting – a wonderful surprise – was a charity poker tournament at Les Ambassadeurs casino in London.
YouTuber and entrepreneur Caspar Lee, rapper KSI and TV star Jamie Laing were joined by internet legends WillNE, Calfreezy, Arthur B, businesswoman Kathleen Breitman and investor Sasha Kaletsky – it was quite a turn-out and raised a very generous amount for DT38.
There have been so many more wonderful events supporting DT38 this year from our team running the London 10k in July to a charity tournament featuring IBIS Junior FC but I just don’t have the space to mention them all again here.
But as a reader of Channel38 you’ll know that we always give mention of those who support us through events, fundraising and awareness in our newsletter and on social media.
Next year is looking very exciting for DT38 and we have an exciting programme of events in place (subject to change and addition). Other official events will be added.
- April – DT38 Awareness Day 2023 at London Stadium
- July – London 10k run
- August – DT38 UK Golf Day at Langdon Hills Golf Club, Essex
- November – DT38 “Awareness Below the Belt” White Collar Boxing at York Hall, Bethnal Green, London
- TBC – DT38 Australia Golf Day – Perth
- TBC – Bawlsy Blokes, Perth
I am immensely proud of how DT38 continues to go from strength to strength, particularly after the crisis of Covid-19 and the ensuing restrictions.
Men continue to share with us their own stories of battling testicular cancer and in some cases how Dylan’s story has inspired them.
More people than ever want to help us fundraise and spread the word as Ambassadors of our charity and we continue to build new partnerships with football clubs and other organisations for this purpose.
I look forward to 2023 with great excitement and optimism and I’m delighted that so many more people continue to join us in helping save men’s and boy’s lives by educating them about the risks of testicular cancer.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
With love,
Tracy Tombides x
Many Happy Returns
We have a fantastic five festive birthdays in December for Ambassadors of DT38.
Former West Ham United FC scout Mike Leigh celebrated a birthday on December 1st and on the 5th TV and radio presenter Adrian Barich turned 59.
On December 12th former Premier League footballer and Socceroo Craig Moore celebrated his 47th birthday, while four days later great friend of Dylan Tombides’ Elliot Lee, now an AFC Wrexham player, was 28.
DT38 Australia Director Chris De Lima marked his 60th birthday on December 29th!
Many Happy Returns one and all!
Picture of the Month
So many wonderful pictures and films are shared with DT38 and I love them all.
The guys at Billericay Town Football Club recently shared this lovely photo of Taylor and I at a recent visit to New Lodge.
We’re so pleased to have struck up a collaboration with the Club and will be working together to raise awareness of testicular cancer, one of the great new partnerships I referred to earlier.
Sharing the Love
We are so grateful to more than 35,000 people who follow and support us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Every month we receive so many shares, Retweets, likes and tags and we’re so grateful for each and every one of them, thank you.
And that brings to end this edition but we’ll be back with the next edition of Channel38 in January.
If you have helped DT38 in some way in recent times, please be sure to let us know so we can include it in one of our future newsletters. Contact tracylee@dt38.org