In the early hours of Saturday 8th June, 2019, I shall be donning my hiking boots and setting off on a 24-hour walk scaling the heights of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon.

It'll be tough and take its toll physically, but it will be nothing compared to the challenges that three very good friends of mine have had to face over the last few years.

My uni pal and former flatmate, Lucy Irvine, met her lovely partner Ryan Jonathan Tunstall in June 2016. He passed away less than a year later in May 2017 from two brain tumours. Lucy tells this heartbreaking story much more beautifully than me on her own Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lucy3peaksforryan

My wonderful friends Martin and Natalie Carpenter had both their young sons diagnosed with different cancers just months apart. Little Arthur is doing well and is in remission. Devastatingly, Freddie Miles Carpenter passed away at home late last year aged just five years old.

For those of you not aware of Martin and Natalie's life-affirming updates, please take a moment to read about this amazing family and their emotional journey here: https://puddingandpieweb.wordpress.com/author/martycarps/

Freddie's cancer was very rare and so Martin and Nat are supporting Alice’s Arc (https://www.alicesarc.org/), a charity dedicated to funding research into finding a cure and less harsh treatments for Rhabdomyosarcoma. 

JustGiving won't allow me to share my donations, but I would like to dedicate my 3 Peaks Challenge to two truly magnificent men, Ryan and Freddie. Two more charming souls you'd be hard pressed to find.

If you’d like to do something, please support me and them -, Freddie and Alice via my page, and Ryan and Brain Tumour Research via Lucy's page (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lucy3peaksforryan)