Erin's Cold Water Challenge Giving Page

My Story

I feel like until you or someone very close to you is effected by cancer, you kind of don’t think about it. It’s there but not present in your life, something that only happens to other people. This was definitely me anyway (I’m not saying this is how everyone thinks) I certainly didn’t understand anything about it, all the different treatments that are thankfully available now, all the different types of cancer that are possible. How the treatment effects a person (physically and emotionally) and how it effects those around them. My dad, Alan. One of the kindest, warmest, free spirited souls on this earth, was diagnosed in March 2022 with metastatic stage 4 adenal carcinoma (non small cell lung cancer) this is incurable but can be managed and lived with. He underwent 4 treatments of chemotherapy and immunotherapy which targeted the particular type of cancer but unfortunately found out in December that the treatment had been unsuccessful. The tumour had grown and there were now multiple nodules in the other lung. So now he is onto a different treatment of chemotherapy and immunotherapy and continuing with this. We are positive and also thankful that he lives relatively symptom free. We also feel so lucky that there is something else available to try, other options, other treatments ready to throw at it. This is why research and funding is so important. We are incredibly blessed to have my dad’s wife Janice in our lives. Janice is selflessly supportive, strong and positive and has been a rock to my dad (and all of us) she also has her own cancer story. Janice was diagnosed with stage 2 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2009 (a type of blood cancer) and underwent chemotherapy to good effect, followed by a maintenance dose. The treatment shrank all present tumours which were in various places. Janice has been in remission for 13 years. As an example of how research and development creates cures, since Janice’s diagnosis there has been a cure found for certain types of high grade lymphoma. This is important. Let’s keep going, searching, fighting against cancer. To find treatments and cures, to keep our most precious people healthy and here with us for longer ❤️ Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you can spare even the smallest of donations, thank you from the bottom of my heart🙏 Now then…time to freeze 🥶 Thanks for visiting my fundraising page. I’m going to immerse myself in cold water every day in March, starting with a minimum of 30 seconds and aiming to build up by 5 seconds each day, to help raise money for Cancer Research UK. Please show your support and help fund life-saving research by donating to my page.