My Nanna, Sally, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2013. She was told by doctors very early on that her cancer was too advanced to be cured, but they did offer treatment that might potentially prolong her life. As the next few years went on, she experianced times when she felt perfectly well, but the rounds of chemotherapy were very tough and ultimatly not having enough of a positive impact for the doctors to continue treating her. This is why she sought alternative routes, inclding mistletoe therapy, Light therapy, and immunotherapy, among others. The alternitive practicioners and doctors gave her an amazing quality of life in the time she had left. The people she met and the doctors and nurses she interacted with made her time full of happiness, and whether it was the treatments themselves or that sense of renewed positivity that these alteraitive practicioners gave her, it doesn't really matter. But the point is, she had the opportunity to try these things, and they allowed her to outlive her doctor's expectations and enjoy some really wonderful times with her husband, four children and eight grandchildren, including a magical family Christmas and a last trip to her favourite holiday place on the south coast of the Cornwall. And luckily, as a result of the treatments she received, she lived long enough to support me and my cousin in our GCSE exams.

Nanna died on May 22 2017 surrounded by her husband and children.

My Nanna was an amzazing person, and as I spent a large portion of my childhood living next door to her, she was like a second mum to me. She instilled in me a love of the outdoors and nature, and some of my fondest memories are of us walking along the towpaths of the Kennet and Avon Canal with her pointing out the wildlife to me, and teaching me to identify the flora and fauna around the waterways.

In memory of her I will be cycling from Reading to Bath along the Kennet and Avon Canal, a distance of around 80 miles (as a novice cyclist), to raise money so that familes like ours can continue to benefit from alternitive treatments and so that people like my Nanna can continue to outlive their diagnosis, and can enjoy the quality of life that these treatments gave her towards the end. I like to think there is someone out there who, despite being seriously ill, might get a greater quality of life and better experience. I would hope that the loved ones supporting them to get well or who may be left behind, like myself, my mum, her siblings, my siblings, my cousins and grandad as well as all Nanna`s friends, have positive memories to treasure, as we do.

And who knows, with your help and support, they might even be cured like many of the patients my Nanna met on her alternitive treatment journey.