My Story

In April 2020, my Dad passed away from cancer. This was the second time that cancer had stolen someone from me as we had lost my mum in 2017. I wish I could have said was the final time, but unfortunately cancer struck twice more that year when we lost my Mother-in-Law (Jean) in June and my Brother (Adam) in the August.

During the time that my Dad and Jean were ill, we were lucky enough to have the support of St Barnabas Hospice to help us.

For my Dad, we had initial support at home but as he deteriorated and got to the point that home care was causing him more distress than it helped, and I believe he was worried about me and how I was coping, he decided that hospice care would be the best option for him. He was lucky enough that a bed became available quite quickly and to say that the staff were amazing would be a complete understatement.

Anyone that knew my dad will know he was a bit of a character and would talk to anyone, and they really made his last couple of weeks as happy and comfortable as possible. This in turn took the pressure off of me and enabled me to spend time talking and just being with my Dad, rather than having to worry about the care side of things. They really took away as much of the pressure that they could. Everyone was incredibly kind and although he put up a great fight and didn’t want to give up they made his final days as happy and comfortable as possible.

Jeans experience was a little different from my Dads, as she wanted to stay in her own home. The team of nurses from St Barnabas enabled this to be a reality and visited twice a day to ensure she was ok, and supported her and the rest of the family in making sure she was comfortable and that everyone was ok. They were always at the end of the phone if anyone was worried and were only a phone call away, day or night if they were needed.

Although at the time everything just felt so unfair to us all, looking back now having the team from St Barnabas available to us was priceless. We will forever be grateful to them for the support that they gave to our whole family for Jean and my Dad.

For me, my life was forever changed and I struggled with trying to workout how to carry on with normal day to day life. My weight sored and my health was beginning to suffer as I became breathless even walking up stairs and really felt like I did not have much left to live for. I have a wonderful husband, Steve, who encouraged me to start eating more healthily and took over the cooking, and encouraged me to go to Spin Classes at the gym. It didn’t take long before I was hooked. Eating better and exercising gave me some purpose and time to just be and not think. As I started to lose weight and become healthier, life has started to feel like it is worth living. The pain of losing someone you love never leaves you but we all find ways to cope with it. For me it was exercise.

I have now reached a point in my life I am ready for a new challenge and also want to give back to St Barnabas Hospice for the support that they gave me during the worst time of my life.

With that in mind Steve talked me in to buying a Road Bike. Prior to buying this bike I have never really ridden one and certainly not on the road as that would just be madness, so that is my first challenge!

So how do I raise money for St Barnabas with my new shiny bike, well that is easy, I sign up for the London to Paris Bike Ride of course! So on 5th June 2024 I will be leaving London on the start of a 315 mile trip to Paris, spreading the cycling over 4 days.

I have so far been out on a few short rides with my longest being 32 miles, so I have a long way to go to get ready for this challenge, but for such a worthy cause I have no choice but to make sure I am ready!

I will be recording my progress on a Facebook page @cycling.sonia so please feel free to follow me to see how I am getting on.