The Reason Why...

It is now a month since my brother was taken from us by a particularly aggressive and vicious cancer of the oesophagus. Although the problems had started to manifest themselves at Christmas 2006, we did not get diagnosis until September 2007. Six months later and it was all, sadly, over.

It has been a hard time for all of us, especially my parents, but we take strength from the fact that he is no longer suffering and no longer in pain. There have been a number of individuals and organisations that have supported us all through this time, whom we have thanked personally and they know who they are and how much we appreciate what they did for Richard and for the family as a whole.

My sister is running the Race for Life in June in memory of our brother and I decided that it was time that I also did something in his memory, and to help facilitate the future of great institutions such as Cancer Research, hospices and support of the families affected.

I've never taken the easy option, as many people will know; and true to form not wanting to do things the easy way I decided that I needed to do something that was spectacular, life changing but also significant. For a while I have been thinking about taking on one of the major challenges offered by a number of Charities, but have decided upon trekking the Great Wall of China with Macmillan Cancer Support.

This also has a further personal significance as a number of years ago I worked for Macmillan Cancer Support as an Appeal fundraiser and helped to put a Macmillan Nurse in post. In fact, the first of the same team that went on to support my brother and our family, so I am determined that I will succeed!

I am not approaching this with a laid back attitude, but knowing full well that I have a metaphorical mountain to climb in being able to train effectively, safely and complete the challenge in one piece.

This blog is to serve as a reminder to myself and others, the routine and effort that I will have put in to this; and to publically thank everyone who has contributed, and will contribute, and helped me along the way to help me achieve my goal.

Please support me by making a donation at http://www.justgiving.com/sarahpearce-in-trinsic in memory of my brother, and remember to keep checking back on my progress.

Thanks for reading x