The Great North Run in Honour of Michelle Cushing 1973-2019

Our team has signed up to take part in The Great North Run this September in Honour of my wife Michelle Cushing (1973-2019) who lost her battle to cancer in January this year.

Some of us are runners and some of us are not but the training has begun for us all. The run takes place between Newcastle Upon Tyne and South Shields on Sunday 8th September and covers a distance of 13.1miles. It is the largest half marathon in the world with over 57,000 runners each year.

Michelle's family and I have a target of £40,000 which we wish to raise for the Keech Hospice and with the help and support of friends and family we must make sure we achieve our goal. So we ask you, our friends, family and work colleagues, to dig deep and donate whatever you can to show your support for our team and the Cushing family.

In November 2017, my dear wife Michelle was diagnosed with lung cancer. She showed amazing strength not to be beaten by this cruel disease but in August 2018 she was informed that the cancer had spread to her brain.

Michelle was admitted to the Keech Hospice in November and sadly lost her fight there on the 14th January 2019 surrounded by her loving family.

Michelle was just 45 years old and taken from me, her children and family in such a short space of time. This hospice provided the specialist 24hour care for Michelle in her final months and will continue to provide support for all the family including music and art therapy for the children.

Keech Hospice Care provides care for adults in Luton and South Bedfordshire and children in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes.

In the last year Keech Hospice has cared for 2,344 people.

The Adult in patient unit provides symptom control and end of life care. 1,784 night shifts were spent providing night care for patients in the last year. 138 patients were cared for on the in patient unit.

Keech palliative care centre offers morning or afternoon sessions for patients to see nurses and doctors, have blood transfusions and medication reviews. Talk about their wishes and provide emotional support and access to supportive services and independence and well being. They had 1,901 attendances last year.

Supportive care provide pre and post bereavement support (590 people in the last year), music therapy, art therapy, complementary therapy, family support. 1,935 music, art and complementary therapy sessions were provided last year.

Independence and well being who have an occupational therapist and physio. They provide walking groups, exercise groups, dance groups and mobility assessments.

Social care team, offering a range of help such as career assessments, financial advice, housing and funeral arrangements. 647 one to one sessions of support were provided last year. They also run a carers support group.

The children's unit provide in patient care for respite, symptom control and end of life care. They also have day care for children and families, including tots and toys group. They often use the hydrotherapy pool. 326 families were supported, 1,681 visits and 1,134 phone calls.

As you can see, there is a vast amount of services provided for adults, children and their families at Keech, around £6 million is needed each year to keep these services running.

Around 70% of the funding required to provide all the services at the hospice come from local community and supporters. These services would not be possible without the generosity of donations and the people who fundraise.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.