My dear friend Gillian was like another mother to me for over 40 years. She lost her battle with cancer towards the end of last year and I miss her terribly! But one thing that brings her family and friends a great deal of comfort, is knowing how well she was looked after during her final days. The hospice staff were so, so lovely to her… she adored them. They were truly amazing, living angels.

We tend to think of cancer as a condition that affects older people, not children or princesses, but cancer doesn’t care who you are or how old. When Bea (my youngest, the red head, previously known as Poppy), was diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer as an 8-month-old baby, every week someone from our local hospice came to the house to help with her medical needs. At the time it didn’t register with me that this service wasn’t funded by the NHS.

I only recently found out that hospices aren’t funded by the government, but by donations from the public…. and I’m still shocked by this fact!

How do they survive when the cost of one hospice health care assistant is £3,396 per month! That’s £37.00 per hour. It must take quite a few health care assistants to run a hospice. That’s a big wage bill that needs a lot of donations! It really struck me that hospice care is something that someone in every family could potentially need at some point in their lives. I’ve never tried to raise a substantial amount for charity…. but I feel very strongly that this is such an important cause…. and that now is the time!

The charity I’ve decided to raise money for is Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care. This is a registered charity that provides free, specialist care and support for adults and children with a life-limiting or terminal illness in Herts and Bucks. They aim to empower people of all ages, to live the best quality of life possible after their diagnosis. They support people in the community, in the home and at their inpatient unit. They offer practical, specialist and emotional support to help families enabling them to spend quality time together when every moment matters.

My plan is to try and raise £3700…. That’s 100 hours of hospice care.

To earn your donations … I’m taking on a very big challenge!

I’ve signed up to be part of a team of approximately 20 volunteers who are going out to Vietnam next March to help at a local field hospital. We will be trekking for 5 days, for up to 7 hours each day, through the villages and jungle of Kho Muong and Cao Hoong. When we arrive at the hospital in Mai Chau, we will spend 2 days at this community project working alongside a local team to improve the facilities of the palliative care unit there … doing jobs such as gardening or decorating. We’ll be staying with local families and sleeping in traditional stilt houses on very thin mattresses on the floor. There will be no plumbing, only a hole in the ground and definitely no room service! I'm not used to walking very far and I'm like princess and the pea when it comes to sleeping... so this is a big challenge for me and I'm terrified!!!

I realised that to stand a chance of completing this challenge next March... I need to get fitter!! So, my training is already underway. Last weekend I climbed Snowdon with a brilliant group of women. There are 6 paths up to the summit of Snowdon, and we climbed the 2nd hardest route… the Rhyd Ddu Path. It was much harder than I expected, and my calves are still screaming in pain!! Looks like I’ve got a lot to do before next March!

If you would please consider sponsoring me I would be ever so grateful 😊

With much love and thanks …. Natalie xx

Any donations no matter how big or small would be ever so appreciated!!

My target is £3700…that's 100 hours of hospice care.

£3.08 = 5 minutes of hospice care… that’s a cup of coffee!!

£9.25 = 15 minutes of hospice care

£18.50 = 30 minutes of hospice care

£37.00 = 1 hour of hospice care

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

I’m taking on this challenge in loving memory of my wonderful friend Gillian Norris…. and also, my darling friend Joy Lung. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. After a lengthy battle with the darkness, Joy became very tired and fell asleep just before Christmas last year. I miss her every day. I’m doing this challenge because she no longer can.

These two people will live on in my heart and in the hearts of those who loved them…. always and forever x x x