My dear father died in August 2016 after a one-and-a-half year battle with leukaemia. His leukaemia was in the high-risk group and he needed a stem cell transplant for any chance of life. Anthony Nolan’s register was instrumental in finding a donor match, and the day we found out about this brought great hope, which lasted nearly a year. As it happened, my father was unlucky, and his leukaemia returned in May 2016. My family and I were put through a terribly rough time, and for me it was something that matured me greatly. For many others the story will be happier, donor matches can be truly life-saving. That is why I am raising money for Anthony Nolan.
Every day, Anthony Nolan saves the lives of people with a blood cancer or blood disorder. They do this by matching incredible individuals willing to donate their stem cells, to people who desperately need a lifesaving transplant. They also carry out cutting edge scientific research, fund specialist post-transplant nurses and support patients and their families through the transplant process and beyond. They won’t stop until they save the lives of everyone who needs a stem cell transplant. Every penny you donate brings them closer to that day.
I raised the money through doing the UK Three Peaks Challenge. This is a national challenge that has been running for many years now whereby people climb the tallest mountain peaks of the three mainland countries of UK (Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Mount Snowdon in Wales) in the space of 24 hours. Joining me on this challenge were two close friends, Henry Brittain and Alex Sajjadi (who climbed the mountains with me) and my uncle Tim Mansfield and close friend Charlie Barrett, who we are all very grateful to for driving us between mountains.
Unfortunately due to bad weather - fog, wind and rain - on top of Scafell Pike, we were unable to complete the challenge in 24 hours as the descent took much longer than expected given the dangerous conditions, though the sacrificing of time was important for our own safety and luckily we made it down okay. In the end we still completed the challenge in 29 hours and 35 minutes, and while we did have issues on Scafell Pike, our climbing time for the other two mountains was on schedule.
Thank you for all the donations and support that everyone has shown over the past few months (the chance to give donations will close on the 1st July). Dad was an avid walker and hiker himself and we always talked about doing the Three Peaks together at some point, though sadly this never materialised before he became ill. So it is with immense pleasure that I am able to say we climbed all Three Peaks over 2 days. This is for Anthony Nolan and this is for dad :)
