Hello,

In August, I will be embarking on a 330 km trek along the famous Coast to Coast pathway which runs from The Lake District crossing in to the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors to finish at Robin Hoos Bay.

This year I am walking in support of an incredible charity called: “Children with Cancer UK It is an organisation founded in 1988 by Marion and Eddie O’Gorman after the tragic deaths of their son, Paul and daughter, Jean who both passed away from cancer.

The organisations vision is to see a world where every child and young person survives their cancer diagnosis, every child and young person gets to grow up and live their life to the fullest and to support the funding and research into treatment options without toxic side effects.

A message from their ambassador:

The team were able to meet with someone personally impacted by childhood cancer having received a diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia at just 9 years old. After 6 months of intensive chemotherapy, they went into remission. Sadly, just under 3 years later, their cancer had returned. They had to undergo daily rehabilitation of physiotherapy, speech and language therapy whilst also being on intensive chemotherapy to save their life again. Through the support of Children with Cancer UK, minimal residual disease* (MRD) testing was co-founded, and they were able to see if the chemotherapy treatment was working. Thankfully, they are now in remission and using their personal experience to support others and raise awareness for the late side effects caused by childhood cancer.

*Minimal residual disease testing is used to detect the presence of cancer cells remaining in the body after treatment, even when they are undetectable by standard tests. The NHS have now adopted MRD testing as part of the standard treatment regime for children.”