I don't want to bore you with my life story. But many ask  WHY? why are you doing this Theresa?

Well, since I was 13 when my father died and my mum went to bed for 2 years I looked after my little sister Claire, she was 8 and a timid very thin little girl. I had to look after my suicidal mother who subsequently developed a multitude of problems resulting in many years in hospital and eventually being disabled.

You can say our lives were difficult, but never look back. I did the best I can and as two very vulnerable little girls I looked after my family. I worked and went to school.

I decided that I wished to go to University and managed to get a  Degree under my belt, so did my sister.

I worked and sent her money when I could. And my mother.

I met my husband Simon in 1991, by then I had a career and a flat, we married and settled in St Albans. Shortly after which my mum committed suicide, whilst Simon was away in Africa. I was pregnant with Mallory. It was a nightmare, it reached the press and there were all sorts of unimaginable difficulties. 

Claire and I buried our mum. My baby couldn't turn. The shock they said.

I had a horrific birth with Mallory, but me and my sister rallied around our beautiful baby. Dealing with grief was so hard when you are meant to be so happy. 

My sister got married and had a daughter of her own. She was always tired. We both had depression, we were traumatised. Then Claire was pregnant with Joshua but she was still poorly. Eventually on seeing a Locum Doctor when she was 6 months pregnant and refused to accept "this is what being pregnant is like - not being able to breathe going up the stairs". She was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and given 2 weeks to live. The baby was delivered and my sister started high-risk chemo.

It didn't work, 8 different types didn't work. She was then given a cutting edge stem cell transplant and spent 3 months in isolation in London. They then did it again. Of the 6 people in her ward that had the same very few survived.

Baby Joshua and daughter were with me and my two babies, Simon doing multiple night feeds with a very poorly premature baby. I gave up my job, started working from home and spent several days a week driving to London to be with my sister. We used to go through holiday brochures and plan where we we going. Always used looking to the future. I used to hold both hands and we would visualise the pacman going from me through her eating the cancer and coming out the other side. Our chemical energy was incredible. I knew how hot or cold she was, what she needed, how she felt even at home in Salisbury, she would be in London. The universal energy between us was miraculous.

One day she had to have a minor operation with no anaesthetic due to medical complications. I remember having to remove her wig as she lay there and hold her head as still as you can. We chanted, she cried she was embarrassed to be bald.

Years later my sister is one of the subjects of The British Medical Journal. She suffers multiple complex side effects as she has had the most radiotherapy and chemotherapy on this planet. So her side effects are studied; for the benefit of others.  She has had 2 throat transplants.

She will never be well.

I was determined NOT TO LET HER DIE. The medical teams think she is wondrous but I know that between us holding hands and visualising the destruction of the cancer cells, of focusing on hope and the future; together with incredibly complex nano technology - cutting edge nuclear medicine we have her alive today with us, with me.

I have tried to concentrate on looking after my family of 4. But I can not let go of looking after her and my brother-in-law and my beautiful niece and nephew.

My children have left home. My daughter securing her dream to get onto a Degree in Acting School last September. So now I have an empty nest - almost.

I knew I would need a focus so I decided to join the StarsAppeal and Trek to Machu Picchu, I would have to try  concentrate on my health. I hate focusing on me. As well as that I would raise money for the hospital.

Because, believe me, illness doesn't chose its individuals based upon wealth or education or social status, I hope the money I raise one day may help someone like my sister stay alive to see her babies grow up and help someone like me not loose all the members of my family within a few years of each other.

Thank you to all those who study medicine, whether western or alternative to help others. I have done this for you via doing it for me.

Live life, love people and be adventurous! Theresa xxxx

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