5 year old Ailsa Croll from Dundonald was made an Honorary Firefighter by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) in recognition of her bravery and determination.
Ailsa is the first ever person to receive such an award. After the formal induction, Ailsa and her big sister Caitlin, eight, were dispatched to deal with several simulated emergency incidents at the SFRS state of the art training centre.
Assistant Chief Officer (ACO) Dave Boyle, who carried out the induction ceremony stated “Credit where it’s due should always be recognised and certainly credit to Ailsa for what she’s been through”.
Red Hot Chilli Pipers raise money for Anthony Nolan
This special experience marks the launch of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers fundraising gig to be held on Friday 13th February at ABC in Glasgow, with all funds raised to be split between Anthony Nolan and the SFRS Family Support Trust.
Ailsa was diagnosed with Aplastic Anaemia in March 2012. Through our unique partnership with the SFRS, contact was made with Ailsa’s parents Neil and Kirsteen and plans were put in place to host a Patient Appeal Event for Ailsa.
A fantastic 318 people joined our register on 30 June 2012 in Troon at the donor registration event.
A match was found for Ailsa and she had her first bone marrow transplant in May 2013, unfortunately Neil and Kirsteen were told just a couple of months later that the transplant had been unsuccessful. The family were delighted to be told that a second match had been found for Ailsa in January 2014 and her second transplant went ahead that same month.
Ailsa is going from strength to strength since her transplant and has even started Primary School in August this year.
'We're forever grateful to the SFRS'
Ailsa’s mum Kirsteen said “Firstly we would like to thank the fantastic Anthony Nolan Charity, who worked round the clock for 19 months to find not one but two bone marrow matches for Ailsa and secondly the two incredibly selfless bone marrow donors who gave Ailsa this chance of life, thank you from the bottom of our hearts”.
“Neil and I are also forever grateful to the SFRS. The guys there were absolutely immense in their efforts to help us, and without them, we would have had no Patient Appeal event or campaign. Anthony Nolan couldn't have a better partner for its lifesaving work.”
“To be made an honorary firefighter and spend a day as a firefighter at the Fire Service College was really special for Ailsa and to get to do it with her big sister Caitlin was a bonus. Again we’d like thank the SFRS for organising it all”
Kirsteen joked “We don’t have to worry about getting Ailsa a costume for Halloween now, there’s only one thing she want to dress up as now”!
Station Manager Andy Watt, Chair of the SFRS/Anthony Nolan partnership group said “We really wanted to recognise Ailsa in a special way as she’s been an inspiration to us all in the Fire Service. The way she has met all her challenges head on, never complained and most of all managed to smile the whole way through her journey”.
“We are also going to make Katie Currie from East Kilbride an honourary firefighter, Katie received a successful bone marrow transplant 6 years ago and became the face of our partnership with Anthony Nolan. Katie along with her parents Neil and Siobhan have been great supporters of the partnership and have assisted us at many events”.
“Firefighters have heroes too and Ailsa and Katie are certainly heroes of ours, sometimes, real superheroes live in the hearts of small children fighting big battles”.
Support our lifesaving work
If you would like to head along to the RHCP gig and support the SFRS partnership raising lifesaving funds, tickets can be purchased here.
If you can’t attend but would still like to support the event please visit their JustGiving page here or text RHCP60 to 70070.