Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Just short of 3 years ago I was regularly climbing the Lakeland Fells, hardly stopping to look around and soak up the scenery and often picking out my own route - my mission being to get to the top, turn around and move on to the next. Considered relatively fit and benefitting from good health, I never took the time to stop and look around hardly staying still long enough to even take a photo ……. these days it is a different story!

Being diagnosed with Bowel Cancer in August 2009 was a bolt out of the blue and little did I know the change of direction my life would take ….. serious post-operative complications and grueling chemotherapy took me from considering the Lakeland Fells as my holiday playground to wondering whether I would ever see them again, let alone climb them. Life would never be quite the same but the Fells would still be there and thanks to medical research and a skilled surgeon, they would be mine to climb again, albeit at a slower pace - now I value not only life but also the views along the way! I climbed my own personal mountain and now wish to climb the six highest peaks in England (each over 3,000ft) and raise money for Bowel Disease Research along the way. I will undertake this challenge in June 2012 almost exactly 3 years to the day that I first considered visiting my GP to seek the cause of my ‘upset stomach’.

Then I had no way of envisaging what lay ahead ……. now I will climb the mountains, pausing on route to take in the views and staying long enough on top of ‘England’s Roof’ to take some photos to share with you.

Please support me by donating to this valuable cause to help enable continued research into Bowel Disease which will inform future treatments and enable others to have the opportunity to reach the top of their own mountains.......