Mairi Claire, the wife of our good friend Joel, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer only a few months after giving birth to their son, Patrick. This came after a long and challenging journey with cancer over the previous 12 years. Unfortunately, the standard of treatment available on the NHS is no longer effective, so Mairi Claire has been researching and working with specialists to find an integrative approach to treatment that will target the cancerous cells more effectively.

A ground-breaking treatment is available at the Chemothermia Clinic in Istanbul. This will be intensive and exhausting but is exactly what Mairi Claire needs at this time. The treatment could be ongoing and will be for a minimum of three months. Naturally, as this is outside of the UK, Mairi Claire and her family will have to fund the treatment and associated costs themselves.

Joel met Mairi Claire whilst at the University at Northumbria in Newcastle. Following University, the couple settled in Newcastle and built a life together there.

To help raise funds towards Mairi Claire’s treatment, a group of Joel's friends will be walking 100 miles from Joel's hometown of Leeds, up to Newcastle over three days, starting on October 7th. This is a highly ambitious challenge from a group of men who have never done anything like this before. Those walking are of varying fitness levels. Some of us will be walking in relays, whilst others will be aiming to walk the entire distance. We hope that between us we will be able to collectively walk over 500 miles in those three days.

Any donations would be greatly appreciated and will help Mairi Claire get the treatment she desperatley needs.