My Story
I walked the length of the UK as a tribute to my wonderful husband. He gave me the confidence to walk again after a life threatening illness where my mobility was limited .Just as I reached some normality 2 years later, he was diagnosed with cancer. Our tragedy. Unfortunately too many people suffer the cancer tragedy, I want to raise funds to help prevent this. Rob had a great sense of humour and a wonderful personsonality with a great capacity to help others. He has left a huge gap in the family he loved so much,particularly for his son, Olly with whom he shared a great relationship. Rob was affectionately known as pops . He was snatched away from us far too soon by this terrible disease. He had a very generous spirit , giving his time and support willingly to many people. His wide network of friends miss him greatly. I hoped that his generosity can be returned by raising much needed funds in his name . He had an aggressive cancer of the liver. The only viable option for a 'cure' was a liver transplant. He came tantalising close to that in Jan 2022 ( operation aborted 2 hours before it was due) . He was taken off the transplant list temporarily so that the size of his tumour could be reduced to minimise the risk of the cancer reappearing in a transplanted liver. He never got back on the list. 5 rounds of chemotherapy followed by 4 rounds of immunotherapy failed to provide the improvement needed. His cancer simply got worse and spread into his blood. He never lost hope and remained upbeat to comfort those close to him. He didn't tell people about his condition unless he saw them face to face. He didn't want to worry anyone. The consultant said Rob was unlucky , his cancer was very aggressive. 😪 I too have an incurable cancers, I am lucky, mine is controllable and not life threatening. I undertook the challenge of a 1084 mile virtual walk the length of the UK as a tribute to Rob . I aimed to finish by the time I reached a significant milestone birthday in November - 10 months at 100 miles a month . It is only because of Rob that I could even contemplate the walk. His encouragement helped build my confidence after my illness. Every step was a tribute to him . Although, much better, I still have to be careful and not walk more than about 4000 steps in one go .This means that I have to plan 2 or 3 walks a day, my cats help me, they come with me on my evening walk! The walk is also in memory of family and friends who have also lost their lives to cancer especially my first husband Bob and my dad Zivadin. Bob's brother Robin and sister June. I also honour tbe memory of Donna Lovesey ❤️, June's daughter who recently passed away .I have never seen someone so brave and so determined to make others around have happy memories. This horrible disease took her beautiful life far too soon. Also in memory of my very special friends Meryl Finch, Debbie Daniels ,John Morse and Karen Morse I smashed the walk, finishing it in July and collected over £7k. I have now organised a raffle which hopefully help me reach my target of £10k. The raffle will take place on 3/11/2023 and will mark the end of my fund raising.
