Matthew's Million Metre Challenge
Matthew Gossage is raising money for Butterfly Thyroid Cancer Trust
Story
Over the last eighteen months my wife, Rebecca, has undergone treatment for Thyroid Cancer. I write this shortly after collecting her from hospital following her radioactive iodine treatment. While this should be the end of the treatment, being radioactive she has to keep herself fairly isolated, no closer to her husband than 1 metre and our children have been sent away for a week for their safety. And then their is the doubt that she will have to live with for the rest of her life, will it come back? Is that neck pain just a neck pain or is it something serious?
It has been an extremely demanding time for her in which she has dealt with constant pain and constant anxiety but she has borne it all with the dignity, grace, the elegance that is so typical of her.
Being diagnosed with cancer is a scary time, the word itself conjures up the most morbid thoughts and your mind instantly turns to all those you have ever known that have died from this disease. However, the research done over the last few decades there is more hope than ever. Timely diagnosis and cutting edge treatments mean that more and more people survive. The Butterfly Trust aim to help you through all of this by liaising with medical experts to ensure that they have the most up to date knowledge, offering information and support to help guide patients through this difficult time and offering an expert medical advisory team and a network of patient support contacts across the UK to help sufferers on their journey.
So in honour of Rebecca, the team at Maidstone hospital and all those like Rebecca who have suffered at the hand of thyroid cancer, I undertake the Million Metre Challenge. With the help of some good friends I plan to run one million metres within twelve months beginning on 1st August 2018.
Wish me luck and if you fancy going for a run, drop me a line!
(For the record... I will be recording my runs using Strava which, so far as I can tell, reports the runs in km to one decimal place. These will then be tracked in a spreadsheet. The official target is 1000km recorded in that spreadsheet.)
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.
It has been an extremely demanding time for her in which she has dealt with constant pain and constant anxiety but she has borne it all with the dignity, grace, the elegance that is so typical of her.
Being diagnosed with cancer is a scary time, the word itself conjures up the most morbid thoughts and your mind instantly turns to all those you have ever known that have died from this disease. However, the research done over the last few decades there is more hope than ever. Timely diagnosis and cutting edge treatments mean that more and more people survive. The Butterfly Trust aim to help you through all of this by liaising with medical experts to ensure that they have the most up to date knowledge, offering information and support to help guide patients through this difficult time and offering an expert medical advisory team and a network of patient support contacts across the UK to help sufferers on their journey.
So in honour of Rebecca, the team at Maidstone hospital and all those like Rebecca who have suffered at the hand of thyroid cancer, I undertake the Million Metre Challenge. With the help of some good friends I plan to run one million metres within twelve months beginning on 1st August 2018.
Wish me luck and if you fancy going for a run, drop me a line!
(For the record... I will be recording my runs using Strava which, so far as I can tell, reports the runs in km to one decimal place. These will then be tracked in a spreadsheet. The official target is 1000km recorded in that spreadsheet.)
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.