Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As you may or may not be aware on 23rd July 2009 my Mum, Hilary Way passed away peacefully at Velindre Cancer Centre after an intense battle with Cancer.

Mum's fight with Cancer started when I was 17 years of age, diagnosed with breast cancer, she underwent surgery to remove the tumour before starting a long series of radio-therapy and chemo-therapy treatment to beat the cancer into submission. Never allowing the cancer to affect her way of life, she even organised and attended my 18th birthday meal with a drainage tube and catheter suspended by a pillow case sewn to the inside of her dress! She was unbelievably tough and managed to fight the disease to the point where it was thought that her battle was won.

In late March of this year (14 years on) just weeks after hearing of my Aunts diagnosis with liver cancer, we were met with the devastating news that Mum's cancer had returned, unbelievably she too had cancer of the liver.

The cancer was extremely aggressive and despite the best efforts of the team at Velindre, no amount of chemo-therapy could reverse the illness, spreading rapidly and affecting multiple organs including her lungs, it was a fight that she could not win.

As tough as this was on the whole of the family, the one thing that I was completely astounded at was the fantastic care and attention provided by the team at Velindre. The work that they do is nothing short of amazing. To comfort and aid those who are not in a position of recovery from illness takes a tremendous character and personality, I for one certainly could not do the job that they do.

Treating 109,000 patients in 2008 with projections that 2009 will see an increase to 119,000 patients treated, it is evident that the work that they do touches the lives of many families, its highly likely that Velindre has treated one of your family members.

In visiting Mum at the hospital I saw posters advertising the fact that Velindre was organising a Trek Kilimanjaro event to raise money to support the Velindre Cancer Centre this I saw as an opportunity to give something back to the facility that helped my mother so greatly when she needed it most.

Velindre have asked me to raise £3,500.00 to participate in this event. In reading this you will understand that not all of that money will go directly to Velindre, a large portion of it (approx. £1,900.00) will go to funding the cost of the trip. I hope you are not one of the sceptical few that might say - "why should I pay for you to take a holiday to Africa?" but if you are, consider the following;

a) If I had the funds to provide £1,900.00 to Velindre directly, I would......unfortunately I don’t.  

b) If you think that walking about 100 miles, up and down the tallest freestanding volcano in the world, with a peak at 5,985m and sub zero temperatures is a 'holiday' - then fair-play to you! Log off this website and please don’t ever ask me to come on holiday with you!

c) Finally please notice that I'm attempting to raise £6,000.00 before the trek, this will mean that over £4,000.00 or approx. 70% of the total funds raised will go directly to Velindre. Again £3,500.00 is the required amount and I'll be happy to achieve this - but £6k or beyond would be much better!

I hope that in reading the above you will understand that this challenge means a lot to me, Mum was an inspiration to a lot of people. Loved by her family and friends, many have, do, and will continue to mourn her passing. Velindre have played a big part in all of our lives.

The donation that you make does not go to some fat balding guy trying to prove that the fitness of his youth can be reclaimed (i.e. me!) it goes to Velindre, it goes to the facility that may one day nurse your loved ones back to health or if this is just impossible, will make their final days on this earth a comfortable experience when they need it most.

Please give generously, and remember that donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Those that read this and donate - thank you

Those that read this and are unable to donate - please consider the information above and if in the future you have one spare pound, or decide to stay in for the night and save the cost of the beer and the curry, please come back and donate - no matter what the amount.

Your actions are truly appreciated,

Thanks,

Gareth