Marie Curie is a fabulous charity which I wish had been around with my Grandad was ill. He had cancer and sadly passed away in 1986 so almost 30 years ago but I still miss him a lot. At that time, the profile of cancer was not as high as it is now and the support for patients and families didn’t really exist. It would no doubt have been easier for my Grandad to cope with the cancer and for the family to have coped with his death, if there had been a local supporting charity. Registering for this walk started off as a bit of a joke with my friend Jane as we laughed at the prospect of signing up but then both of us actually started to take it seriously. For me, it’s like my “Shirley Valentine” moment – I woke up one morning to discover that I was 40 something and hadn’t really done anything out of the ordinary or over exciting in my life. Walking the Great Wall of China not only enables me to do something defining, challenging and different but more importantly it’s a chance to raise funds for a deserving charity. I take on this challenge to really push myself to the extreme, to prove that I am capable of doing it. I will also hopefully have some fun along the way (pending blisters!) and will help to raise funds and awareness of the excellent work of Marie Curie. Thanks for your help, support and prayers xx