Thank you for taking the time to read and donate.

On 4^th July 2018, my mum was asked to take herself to Scarborough A&E after a routine blood test showed that she had high potassium levels, she never came
out and a week later sadly died at the age of 62.

We never received a confirmed diagnoses of secondary liver cancer since tests were never
completed. I arrived at the hospital on 5^th July and said goodbye to my mum on the evening of Monday 9^th July having spent much of the weekend with my mum. 
On Tuesday 10^th July my sister had arrived at the hospital and I returned to work. I did not hear a lot throughout the day which worried me. That evening my sister messaged to say that she thought I should come back to the hospital, I arrived at 10pm and my mum was unresponsive, she never regained consciousness and passed away at 2pm the following day with my dad, sister and myself by her side. My life and that of my family was turned upside
down.

I have spent the past 2.5 years trying to come to terms with our losses and looking for answers to how a healthy 62 year old can suddenly pass away despite being fit and well.

Three months after my mum died I got married. This was a bitter sweet day. 3 days after returning
from honeymoon we began our first round of IVF. Unfortunately my husband and I have unexplained infertility and have been trying for a number of years leading up to the IVF to conceive. That round of IVF was unsuccessful and I struggled not having my mum to speak to. A further 4 rounds have resulted in abandoned cycles due to lack of responsiveness, massive bleeds and covid 19. That and what is believed early miscarriages have resulted in us still being childless. My mum never got to be a Grandma and narrowly missed out on meeting my niece Maisie who she would have loved unconditionally.

To say the past 2.5 years have been a struggle is an understatement. The loss of a loved one takes
you through four stages, shock, denial, anger and acceptance. My doctor explained that it takes a minimum of two years to get to the acceptance part
and that it likely that people will experience this cycle of grief at least twice and probably more due to the other stresses in my life and the loss being sudden and unexpected.

The hardest part was watching my family struggle. My dad lost his soul mate, a lady who he had been married to for 44 years. My sister lost the opportunity to introduce Maisie to mum and to share the experiences of being a mother with her.

However, life does go on and you never actually get over the grief but you do learn to live with it and what it did do was give me the strength to re-evaluate my life and make the massive plunge to leave my job of 15 years working and then managing at Harden Pre-School to work with extremely disadvantaged and vulnerable children. A place where I generally feel like I can make a difference. 

Two years ago my sister decided that she wanted to do a memory walk for my mum and support her much
loved charities. She chose the South West Coastal path since that is where we spent our summers as children. This year, on Friday 28^th May we will set off down to Minehead and I will spend 8 days walking with my sister and remembering our beautifully
caring and clever mum. My sister will continue the walk along and finish in Padstow with her family meeting her.

I don't like to ask for donations but if anyone is able to sponsor me to complete as many miles
as I can possible fit in to the 166 mile section that Emma is completing over the May half term I would be very grateful.

In memory of my mum, the charity that I will be supporting is the Cave Rescue Organisation
which is a voluntary rescue team made up of experienced cavers, climbers and walkers who help those in need of assistance in parts of rural Yorkshire. This is a charity which my mum held close to her heart since they rescued my sister in 2013 after she fell coming down Pen-y-gent fracturing her leg and damaging her spine. It is a charity which I have supported for the past 8 years.    

https://cro.org.uk/

So please, if you have a few pennies to give, it would be much appreciate at a time when the CRO have been unable to hold any of their fundraising events due to the Covid restrictions. Thank you so much
Mel. X