In August 2012 I was diagnosed with stage 4B Double Hit Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer. My prognosis was incredibly poor and over the course of my treatment, I spent more time in a hospital than at home. I had countless different chemo regimens after relapsing and ended up having a donor stem cell transplant in May 2013. I’m now 9 years clear and living a mostly ‘normal’ life.

In January 2013, I caught an infection and was critically ill. The general consensus at the time was that I was probably going to die. During that time I made myself a promise to do all I can to help others if I was to survive, and although I’ve raised money, given talks to politicians and organisations about blood cancers since, I feel now is the right time to make good that promise in a massive way. 

So here it is... in June 2022 (was 2020 then the pandemic happened), my husband and I will be climbing Kilimanjaro with fellow Blood Cancer UK Ambassadors and running the London Marathon in October 2021 (was April 2020).

A bit of context about our challenges..

-Kili is the highest mountain in Africa (standing proudly at 5895m above sea level), it’s so high that we’ll going to be trekking up through 5 distinct climate zones and battling oxygen deprived altitudes.

-London Marathon is self-explanatory - 26.2 miles of pain and despair!

So please please, support us and help us anyway you can. Whatever money I raise for Blood Cancer UK will go an incredibly long way to others like me survive blood cancers, even ones as scary as what I had.  Ade and I are self-funding our trip with our own money so everything I raise here will go directly to Blood Cancer UK. Our target is £5895 just because that’s the height of Kili!! A pound for every metre!

We’ll be dedicating this trek to the memory of our good friend Elliott Winch who passed away in 2019. He had myeloma, a blood cancer which at the moment still has no cure.

Kat =^..^=