I've always been a bit put off with the whole fundraising idea as I've never really thought that I had the number of friends and family who would support me and donate but I'm at the point in my life now where I am so grateful for the life I live and want to give back, even in the slightest way possible.

With debate over going abroad and all of the gruelling challenges I could complete I have decided to stay in the UK (to save air miles and the planet!) and cycle from my University home of Stoke on Trent to my home city of Bristol. In total this will consist of 140 miles, that's the equivalent of 5.3 marathons! I plan on completing this within 2 days and will begin my journey on the 14th of April 2021. For those of you who know me well will know that I am NOT a cardio person and will definitely find this an incredible challenge - I will probably die but I'm happy to die for a good cause - haha!

Amazingly, my Dad has committed to completing this challenge with me...A man who had never set foot in a gym until my breakdown last year. Willing to do anything to support his little girl and be there should I need him, he joined the gym that I trained at and hasn't looked back since. He, himself recently completing a 26 mile charity walk for Macmillan Cancer Support, after losing his Mother at a very young age.

We have chosen the charities "ManKind Initiative" and "Refuge Against Domestic Violence" for their efforts in supporting those who have been affected by domestic abuse and violence. Having personally been subject to this kind of abuse which lead to a complete break down of my life and a suicide attempt in 2019 you can imagine, this topic is extremely close to my heart. 

At the time I was referred to many different charities and agencies, none of which had the resources to help or even get in touch with me in/at the time. This meant that I had no support with leaving my abuser and consequently suffered serious mental and physical health issues and even experienced the loss of a child. There is a major lack of funding, support and awareness within this sector that leads to an average of two women murdered EVERY WEEK and 30 men every year. In the year ending March 2019, an estimated 2.4 million adults aged 16 to 74 experienced domestic abuse in the last year (1.6 million women and 786,000 men) with 1 in 3 women experiencing some form of domestic abuse in their lifetime.

On behalf of your Daughters, Sisters, Mothers, Sons, Brothers, Fathers and Friends please support me in raising money for these exceptional causes. If you cannot donate please, please have the conversations, educate yourself and others on domestic abuse and always trust your gut. The majority of domestic abuse will occur behind closed doors, sometimes just a simple "Are you alright?" Can save someone's life! 

Thank you for reading, donating and saving lives.