Our Story

As many of you may know, my dad absolutely loved an adventure. He spent his life either on a trip somewhere, or planning the next one. As a child I could always find a copy of a travel magazine around the house and the holiday destinations were sometimes quite unique.

I was fortunate enough (and my parents crazy enough) to experience 15 months of travelling with them aged 9, and looking back on that time is so meaningful and helps me to remember how incredible, fearless, and endlessly optimistic my dad was. We explored several different continents from the Americas, to Asia and the Pacific, and it shaped who I am today. (Since then, the BBC world service pips are forever etched in my mind, as it was essentially the soundtrack to falling asleep during that period of my life! Click the link if you'd like to hear! https://youtu.be/ssw7cn2TbF0?si=D5u-acpbOTCYFm6p&t=38).

When exploring, he always had us convinced the next place was "just round this corner", which it very rarely was, but somehow we always got there in the end. It has instilled a persistent sense of curiosity and open-mindedness about the world around me, which is a gift I will forever be grateful for.

Sadly, a few years after returning home, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. It was very up and down over the next few years - surgeries, different types of treatment, with waves of hope, back to sadness when the cancer was diagnosed as terminal. It was a long road and there were good times in between, as he still found time to plan his excursions! He and my mum got to visit the Maldives, and we had an incredible trip to Iceland.

Family, friends, and the Macmillan nurses were brilliant throughout and we couldn't have done it without them. Towards the end of my dad's life, he spent time in St Michael's for respite care which provided him with much needed rest and comfort. This is my opportunity to say thank you to St Michael's for providing my dad with peace during his final weeks, and to have him with me in a place he would have chosen himself.

Grief is its own kind of journey, and not always one you can plan for. It's taken me nearly two decades to feel ready to do something like this, but here we are. Usually a holiday to a hot destination for me would be beaches and good food, but this time I'm swapping the seaside for the Sahara.

From 27th October to 1st November 2026, I’ll be trekking over 40km across 4 days in the Sahara Desert, crossing shifting landscapes and climbing the mighty Chigaga Dunes to witness a desert sunrise. This seems like exactly the type of thing my dad would have relished. He would have been straight to Waterstones for a travel guide to Morocco, and then have me wandering the wrong dune insisting it was just around the corner. Doing this feels like a fitting tribute to him.

The reward of conquering the desert with the High Atlas Mountains as our backdrop will be an unforgettable and cathartic experience, but the true purpose is ensuring Saint Michael’s Hospice can continue providing specialist palliative and end-of-life care to people across Harrogate, at no cost to patients or their families. The hospice relies on the generosity of the local community to keep its doors open and available to everyone who needs it. Thank you for supporting me. It means a lot to have you here on this adventure with me.