Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  Fundraising is hugely important to Macmillan. Without people doing events, running marathons, climbing mountains and donating in all the ways they can, Macmillan would not exist.

On the 4th January 1999 - nearly 20 years ago,  I started working for this amazing charity and over the years I have seen and heard first hand just how important Macmillan is to people living with cancer. At Macmillan, we know that cancer can affect everything. Your body, your relationships, your money, everything. Macmillan is here to help people live it - no matter what. Macmillan gives you the support to hold on to who you are and what’s important.  Life with cancer is still life and Macmillan will help you live it. 

So please read my story.  I have got a huge target to raise.  Even if you can only spare £1 or £2, I promise you, it will make a huge difference.

So as I mentioned earlier, by the end of 2018 I will have been working at Macmillan for 20 years. In addition to this milestone,  on the 29th December I will also reach the ripe old age of 60 (not quite sure how that happened).  So I felt that it was time that I took on another challenge (or two) to raise even more money for Macmillan. 

Just to rewind slightly - 10 years ago when I was approaching my 50th, I decided (well actually I think the girls in the Warrington office decided and you know who you are ladies) that I should celebrate my big birthday with a challenge. One challenge turned to 50 and so was born “50 things to do in my 50’s”. 

Some have been big -  trekking across both the Sahara and Iceland and raising a few thousand for Macmillan. Some have been for a reason - having a “bee” tattoo in memory of those killed in the Manchester Arena bombing, some have been emotional - filming with the BBC in Poland, following the journey my dad took and wrote about as a Prisoner of War in Stalag Luft 111 (The Great Escape Camp). Some have been hilarious - appearing on How to Look Good Naked with the team from Warrington,  and some not even planned - delivering my grandson (oh my goodness was that scary). 

I still have a few to complete over the coming 6 months - climbing the O2, the longest zip wire in Europe, and a wing walk to name but a few. 

However, what could be a more fitting way to celebrate 20 years at Macmillan than by committing to do 3 events - The Manchester to Blackpool bike ride (60 miles and not ridden a bike for years) The Northumberland Mighty Hike (the distance of a marathon in a day) and the Nepal Hiking challenge in October (9 days of hard trekking through the villages and mountains of Nepal). Unfortunately due to injury I have had to pull of out Nepal two weeks before I was due to go. I was such a hard decision to make as I had trained so hard this year but I not only had to consider my injury but the impact on the rest of the group if I had gone but struggled.  So I have transferred and will be doing the Ancient City of Petra in October 2019. 

I also have some very personal reasons to do these. My adorable mum has got breast cancer, my brave, strong sister is still trying to deal with the after effects of having both breast and bowel cancer and my lovely Mother in law very recently passed away after being diagnosed with Lung Cancer.  It is also for all those people who I have had the pleasure to meet, chat to, work with and support. People who have needed the support of Macmillan.

So my promise is that I will train, I will fundraise, I will raise EVEN MORE money for Macmillan, I will continue to do my job to make a difference and with a little help from my friends I will do it all. So let’s together make a REAL difference in 2018 and 2019. Thank you xxxx