We are Team Awesome Sussex Striders, we are a group of friends (Annika, Amber, Becky, Rhiannon, Sarah and Amanda) and we are walking to raise money for the amazing Macmillan Nurses!

I am Annika, my friends and I are doing this because I've beaten breast cancer! 

In March 2020, just as the Covid pandemic broke, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I found a lump and experienced everyone's worst nightmare of being told it’s cancer. At the same time we were all beginning to realise the awful reality of a pandemic. Hospitals were not a place you wanted to be, all the appointments were socially distanced, with facemasks, they were struggling under the strain of Covid. Cancer operations were being postponed and staff were having to find superhuman levels of positivity, to give people hope despite the surrounding semi-chaos. The operating theatres where I would normally have been treated were now Covid wards, private cancer hospitals were not operating and were helping the Covid effort. The stress was extreme and the worry was out of this world, it was a very, very difficult time.

Friends and family rallied round, the children were a positive strength but the cloud of uncertainty was all consuming.

After what seemed like an age, I did get a date for the operation and had a mastectomy, went through chemo and other treatments and here I am today free of cancer - I made a promise to myself to love life and see every day as a blessing.

During this time the Macmillan Nurses, despite their own fears and worries of Covid unfolding around them, were always there at the end of the phone. They listened, they gave advice, they tried to reassure. They were open about not knowing the plans but gave me reassurance that everyone was trying to help. They were heroic, to be mentally strong enough to absorb the sadness of others, during such a hard time is something truly inspiring.

They can’t do it without us, they need our help. Please donate whatever you can.