Story
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">The Challenge</span></span></strong><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">To lose 21lb (one and a half stone) in 6 weeks. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">April Fools Day – Friday 13<sup>th</sup> May</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;">If you'd like to pledge rather than donate right now, please email me - j.scotting@gilders.co.uk - and I'll add the amount to the target. This only really works with a bit of "guilt-money" on the table you see :)</span></p>
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<p><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">The Reason</span></span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">After losing two and a half stone last year, I managed to put a bit back on around Christmas... and a bit more since! I'm now back up to the 20 stone mark, which isn't quite back to where I started, but it is disappointing to see the scales start with a 2 again. I now have another year under my belt (along with the spare tyre). So, having turned 31 in the last few days, I decided that I needed a kick up my (admittedly oversized) bum. Actually it was my wife Sara’s idea, which probably says a lot! She’s already pretty fit, but she’ll be joining in by dieting and exercising along with me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">The final straw was actually when Archie, my 6 year old son, drew a picture of me on my birthday card, and labelled the circle in the middle as ‘belly’. Funny though that is, when the tears of laughter disappear, all you’re left with are tears. OK, not really, but it did make me think.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">The reason for making it a sponsored challenge is two-fold – (1) to raise money for a fantastic charity, Cavendish Cancer Care</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> <span style="color: black;">and (2) to give me the added motivation to make sure I don’t let the side down. So please sponsor me for every pound I lose and make me feel really guilty for not losing more. The total I’m looking to raise equates to £50 per pound lost if I reach my target – and here’s why you should sponsor/donate...</span></span></p>
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<p><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">The Charity</span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">Sara had a scare recently. After a series of tests, including a brain scan, it turned out to be nothing serious. She had symptoms that suggested she might have a brain tumour, which we obviously wanted to have checked out straight away. </span><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Thoughts crossed my mind that, I’m glad to say, I didn’t have too long to dwell on; thoughts about how I would cope with my three young boys (3, 5 & 6) asking questions about where their Mummy is, thoughts about how I would cope with life in general without her.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">In our case, we were extremely fortunate, in that the worry was only brief. What it did though, is allow us to experience the first part of a journey that some are unfortunate enough to continue along. This couple experienced what the Cavendish Centre is all about first hand, please read their story -</span><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"> <span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a title="blocked::http://www.justgiving.com/KurtLindley/1" href="http://www.justgiving.com/KurtLindley/1" target="_blank">http://www.justgiving.com/KurtLindley/1</a><a href="http://%20www.justgiving.com/KurtLindley"></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt;">For more information about the Cavendish Centre, please visit <a href="http://www.cavcare.org.uk/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">www.cavcare.org.uk</span></a> </span></p>
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