Nicola Hurst
Fundraising in the name of Rachael Hurst
Fundraising for Blood Cancer UK
Story
Target Reached! (18th October 2007)
Wow I can't believe we have managed to raise £20,000 in just 4 months! This is such a massive achievement and the funds raised will go a very long way in helping Leukaemia Research beat blood cancer. I want to thank everyone who has donated to the cause and especially those who were involved in the fundraising activities.
Hopefully I am near the end of my long and difficult journey now but times were made easier by all the help and support I received from those who contributed to this page. I'm sure the money raised will also help sufferers in the future and will ensure that treatments for cancer are constantly improving.
Rachael xx
Update (11th October 2007) Great North Run
Congratulations and a big thanks to Mel, Katie and Jaime for their amazing feat in completing the Great North Run. Their times of 2:00:03 (Mel); 2:01:00 (Katie) and 2:13:11 (Jaime) reflected the effort and training they all put in beforehand. Unfortunately Nicola and Alice both sustained injuries beforehand and couldn't do the challenge. Well Done again girls and thanks from everyone - especially those who will benefit from the work done by Leukaemia Research.
Update (20 September 2007) Speed dating fundraiser
Thanks to everyone who came to the Speed dating night last week. The night was a huge success and we raised a grand total of £1,220!!!! Kelse and Mel did an excellent job at compering, although not sure how much the daters appreciated Kelse's tuneful "when a man loves a woman" rendition mid-way through. Hope all the daters had fun (and enjoy future dates with their matches!) and thanks too to those who came for the party afterwards.
Update (18th September 2007): Nottingham Half Marathon!
A big thumbs up to Ben Culligan who completed the Nottingham Half Marathon at the weekend in an awesome 1 hour 35.23! This impressive time put him in 440th place which is in the top 7%. If you goto http://www.marathon-photos.com and search for robin hood marathon, number 2724 there’s plenty of photos of Ben in luminous yellow pain!
We're all very proud of Ben but also a little bit jealous that he is so much fitter than the rest of us (Nicola aside of course!). Thanks Ben.
Update (29 August 2007): 15 PEAKS CHALLENGE ACHIEVED!
A big, big congratulations go to the 8 unexpecting individuals who completed such a difficult challenge. We also wish to thank the three guides who took time out to come with us, we couldn't have done this without your help. We may require you again over the next couple of day to go back and rescue Terry off the side of Crib Goch!
Personal highlights of the trip include: having to wake up at 4am to start climbing 3000ft mountains, clinging to a rock face with a sheer drop below and having to walk for a further couple of hours after completing the challenge just to get back to the car! If the rest of the group are anything like me they will have made their families/friends watch Mountain with Griff Rhys Jones on the Sunday, then pointed out each mountain they climbed and claimed, rather non-chalently, that it was all relatively tame.
Although actual walking time was more like 20 hours, officially we climbed all 15 peaks over 3000ft in Snowdonia in 23 hours 59 minutes (cutting it fine!), with only our need to sleep and inability to see in the dark adding the extra time. It truly was a fantastic accomplishment for an even better cause and we hope that the scale of our achievements will be echoed in your continuing donations.
Tom XX
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Update (21 August 2007): SPEED DATING?
We will be holding a fundraising night in London on Thursday 13 September at Rumi Bar on New Kings Rd. The evening will begin with speed dating 7-8.30pm and open to all for a night of cocktails, music and dancing until 2am. Entry costs £15 for speed dating and £10 for the party only. If you would like to come along, please email Nicola.hurst@linklaters.com and use this site to pay your entry fee (write “fundraising event” into the description).
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Update (25 July 2007): NEW TARGET
We have been completely overwhelmed by the responses from everyone so far and have already reached our initial £10,000 target! So, a big thank you to everyone who has very kindly donated.
Of course we want to keep going and raise as much as we possibly can for Leukaemia Research so we've decided to raise the target to £20,000. This is a HUGE amount of money and will make such a difference, so hopefully with your help we can make it...
Rachael's Message (JULY 2007)
When I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma on 27th February 2007, my initial thoughts were, hold on, I’m only 19, I’m far too young to have cancer. However, it seems that blood cancers in particular will target children and young adults. Both leukaemia and lymphoma cause your blood cells to behave in a way which inhibits their normal functions. The most successful treatment to kill the cancer cells is aggressive chemotherapy - unfortunately with all the side effects that go with it!
The last 4 months have been a living nightmare. Not only is it hell for me, but everyone around me, my family and friends, feel the pain too. Living with cancer is surviving rather than actually living.
I'm trying to raise awareness and funding for Leukaemia Research as they do a lot of work improving the treatment for all blood cancers. Only 50 years ago children would have died from leukaemia and lymphoma, but now, because of their work, I have a >70% chance of being cured. I think this is remarkable and I would love to help them achieve a 100% success rate.
The only way I can really help just now is by fundraising and donating money to the charity. So I’m asking if you could please help me out and sponsor my sister and her friends as they tackle the great 15 mountain peaks of Wales in 24 hours, the Great North Run and the Nottingham Half Marathon. These are really big challenges and they have been training very hard so anything you can give will be much appreciated by us all and put to very good use by Leukaemia Research.
Thank you very much.
Rachael xx
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1. Welsh 3000s Challenge - 25th August
(climbing 15 Mountain Peaks over 3000ft in < 24 hours)
Nicola Hurst (my sister), Tom Lightburn (my boyfriend), Lisa Burke, Ben Culligan, Rick Kelsey, Freddie Draper, Terry Hurst (my uncle), Jimmy Burke and Claire Prosser (the one with the mountain knowledge!)
2. Great North Run - 30th September
Nicola Hurst, Mel Hedley Lewis, Alice Houlder, Jaime Dipple and Katie Hutton
3. Nottingham Half marathon - 16th September
Ben Culligan
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