Imagine your worst nightmare. Being told you have bowel cancer. Then imagine being told your bowel cancer is advanced and has started to spread into nearby organs such as your bladder or your spine. Imagine then being told it is unlikely that you could have an operation to cure your cancer due to its spread to local structures, and the best that could be done is to give you treatment to try and slow down its progression.

But, imagine there is a chance. The Complex Caner service at St Mark;s Hospital was set up with a group of expert doctors to give hope to these patients and offer them a cure. To offer them live saving surgery. Surely if this was you or your relative, you would want that option of hope? But imagine that you live 100 miles away, or even further. And you can no longer work due to your cancer symptoms. Imagine not being able to afford the £100 train fare to get to St Mark's for an opinion?

In October, me and a group of friends will be fulfilling a lifetime ambition of climbing Kilimanjaro. We have funded this trip ourselves, but I thought, perhaps I could use this opportunity to raise money for charity.

I was moved by a presentation delivered by the Complex Cancer Team at St Marks, especially a video interview of a young woman in her 30's who was in a hospice on a pain medication drip due to symptoms of her cancer. Following her treatment at St Mark's she is now 3-4 years down the line from curative surgery. You couldn't help but be moved by her story. I was even more touched when I heard that some patients couldn't make appointments due to the costs of travel. This gave me the inspiration I needed, and I realised there and then where I wanted any money that I could raise to go. I would like to help contribute towards these patients getting to see an expert medical team to give them their only hope. Wouldn't you want the same?

Please support us as we embark on our climb up Kilimanjaro and know that any money raised will go to a really good cause.

Thank you!