In 2016, Meg was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 22. Cancer strips away all semblances of normality and leaving you feeling really isolated. This has massive impacts on mental health and confidence when trying to recover and get back to normal. 

In June 2017, Meg went on her first 4 day sailing trip with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, a couple of months after radiotherapy. After months of operations and treatment, normal life had pretty much stopped. Meg had never exactly been shy.... however, the idea of going away for 4 days and staying on a boat with bunch of strangers after the isolation of treatment was now terrifying. The trip Meg went on was the first time she was able to talk to other people her age who'd had cancer and it was safe to say that she came back from the trip feeling far more confident and generally better than when she went.

The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust trips enable young people age 8-24 to spend time away learning new skills whilst also creating space to share their experiences of cancer. Maybe most importantly, the focus of Trust trips are not on cancer, but on sailing which is really important when moving on from treatment to recovery and different from a lot of other cancer charities. Other young people's experiences of trips are here: https://www.ellenmacarthurcancertrust.org/why-we-matter/stories/

Meg could never have got through treatment and the following mental head games with out the support of Dan, who she is repaying by dragging round the Great North Run for the amazing Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, one year after her all clear.   

Please donate to help other young people all around the UK rebuild their confidence after cancer.

THANK YOU! 

Meg and Dan