Thanks for visiting my fundraising page. I am fund raising for two charities that indirectly and directly have helped me overcome the cancer that I was diagnosed with back in August 2013. The two charities are Cancer Research UK & Anthony Nolan. I plan on doing a number of walks during 2016, culminating in a coast to coast walk along Hadrian’s Wall in September.
The reason for this fund raising is that I was diagnosed with cancer of the bone marrow (Multiple Myeloma) in summer 2013. I was 47 years old. For nearly 2 ½ years life for me and my family stopped. I was very tired with little energy a lot of the time due to the chemotherapy and I guess we were all just waiting to see what the final outcome was. Would I see my 50th birthday or not!
Well I am 50 this year in May. My cancer is in remission, I am slowly getting fitter and want to do something to say thank you to all those thousands of people that have help to bring cancer treatment and Stem Cell research to where it is now , as well as to help in some small way others in the future.
The main walks I plan on doing this year will start with about an 8 mile walk around Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire around March/April time, followed by about a 27 mile walk around Rutland Water in the East Midlands over a two day period in June/July where I get to try camping for a night. Culminating in about 100 mile walk over 6 days along Hadrian’s Wall in Northern England.
My Daughter is also planning to arrange a small local walk around the village I live in sometime in summer.
But why the walk and why am I asking you to donate some money to the two charities I have picked? The simple answer is that there are a lot of people from scientists who research and develop treatments for cancer to the doctors and nurses who provide those treatments and looked after me that I would like to say thanks to. Without all those people I would either be dead by now, or close to it. And without Anthony Nolan and their Registry of Blood Stem Cell donors and finding a perfect match for me I would not be doing this walk. The donor stem cell transplant was the only viable way of potentially curing my cancer.
I am now fitter than I have been in a long time. I owe lots of people my life, and that includes the anonymous person that donated his stem cells to me. This is my way of paying them back just a little bit. For ultimately there are a whole bunch of people that directly or indirectly saved my life, and how can you ever really re-pay that back.
You may however be asking why should you give a donation, it was not you who was diagnosed with cancer?
The sad truth is that statistically either you, your partner or your children or parents will at some point in your life be diagnosed with cancer. Currently about 40% of people are diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. This is likely to rise to around 50% over the next few years. The other 50% don’t get off that lightly either, they will probaly have to live with the person diagnosed with cancer and that’s not an easy thing to see someone you love go through the treatment for cancer. Its really tough on everyone. Just ask my wife and daughters.
Cancer research is developing new and better treatments and hopefully one day cancer won’t be anywhere near as scary and life threatening as it is now. It will have a far better cure rate. Also stem cell transplants are being used for a lot more cures, not just for some types of blood diseases and cancers but also for things like Multiple Sclerosis. If you can’t use your own stem cells for whatever reason, you will need a donor.
So don‘t make a donation for me, do it for yourself and the ones you love. It may one day benefit you or someone in your family.
Read more of my story under each charity.
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