A life changed in an instant.....

There are many people raising awareness and money for good causes, both on and offline.....usually the most passionate charity ambassadors are those who have been affected by a particular illness or experience, whether it be personally or a close family member.  I became involved in fundraising for Cancer Research UK, after the loss of my friend to cancer in 2008....but since joining twitter in 2009 I have had my eyes opened to the world of charity and the vast numbers of good causes out there, working hard to raise awareness and much needed funds.

Now as well as being a fundraiser for CRUK, I am a mum - thankfully to 3 very healthy children!  If twitter has taught me one thing, it's that me and my family are very lucky - I see tweets every day from charities, fundraisers and other mums about children living in poverty, disabled children, children living with life-threatening illnesses, and sadly children who have lost their battles too....I consider myself very fortunate that I haven't had to learn to cope with any of these issues, and my heart goes out to every parent who does.


In 2010, when I saw a tweet from The Children's Trust about their Sleepwalk event (a 10 mile walk at 10pm!) I decided immediately to sign up - I had followed their work closely on FB and twitter, and had read (and cried at!) their stories of brain-injured children who had been rehabilitated there.  I put a post on my facebook page asking if anyone wanted to take part with me - pleading with my friends, as mums, to put themselves in the shoes of a parent whose life is changed forever when their child suffers a brain injury.  I managed to persuade one other local mum, but was a little disappointed I couldn't round up more support for such a fabulous cause!  The event was great and despite the fact that I'm always fundraising for something or other, I did manage to raise around £150!

So, the whole point of the story comes to this.....

My husband's 16 year old cousin (yes, huge age gap, his mum had him 'later in life'!) was 2 days away from starting his first year in sixth form when he felt a bit odd.  He phoned his mum at work, but she was an hour away....when he started to feel numb on the left side of his body, thankfully he had the sense to call himself an ambulance - when he described his symptoms, 3 ambulances turned up!  Scans, tests and emergency brain surgery.....the lives of a whole family were turned upside down in a matter of hours - the doctors even recommended his father fly out from South Africa, things were that in the balance!  After 2 months in hospital, I'm now pleased to say he is undergoing rehabilitation and every therapy you can name...... at The Children's Trust :-)  He is making fantastic progress and after visiting him there am confident he is in the very best hands possible.

My point, I guess, is this....don't wait for something to affect you directly.  When you hear about a good cause, try to put yourself in the shoes of those they are helping...no one has the time or money to help every cause out there, but every £1 helps, and so does every FB share and twitter retweet.

Thanks for reading :-)
Nx

“Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little” Edmund Burke

A shining star....

I'm certain that most people on twitter have by now heard about the sad loss of young Harry Moseley on Saturday night.... I woke to the news on Sunday morning, Harry's mum tweeted

"My brave inspirational boy fell asleep in my arms at 11:10pm.  Suddenly our world is a very dark and cruel place"

I'm a mum, to three kids who most days drive me crazy.... but you ask any parent their worst fear and it would be to lose a child.  It's unimaginable to me, and yesterday I felt very lucky indeed to have my children close to me.

Harry's tweets always made me smile, he was such a positive and happy boy, despite his illness.  His tweets were always full of smiles :-) and crazy hashtags like #wowzerwednesday and never did I see a negative word or a hint of feeling sorry for himself - in fact, many adults could learn a lot from Harry's attitude!

As someone who spends a lot of time fundraising, I sometimes suffer a "what's the point" moment, when someone special loses their battle with cancer....but it doesn't take me long to remember all the people around me who have benefited from treatment, and who wouldn't be with us today if it weren't for the research funded by charities like Cancer Research UK.

Harry was determined to raise as much awareness of brain cancer as possible, and his campaign 'Help Harry Help Others' was, and will remain, truly remarkable.  If you do one thing today, please follow the link to his website and read his amazing story, watch his video blogs, and learn a bit about what a special boy he really was.

My heart goes out to Harry's family at what must be such a difficult time.... but they must know he was one of the very best, and will live in many hearts for a long time to come.

Sleep well Harry
N xx

London Shine - Hints, tips and a tweetup!

Shine in London is now less than 2 weeks away!!  A huge thanks to all those tweeters whose arms I managed to twist to join me at this event ;-)

As I took part in Shine in Manchester last year, I decided to put some thoughts down about the event, what I perhaps did wrong and what I might do differently.... and also some general advice for those who have never taken part in a mass participation charity event before!

Firstly, I have a twitter list of people taking part in the London event, so if you're reading this and taking part why not follow the list so you can get to know the others!!  If you're not on the list, please tweet me and I'll add you :-)

For me, the most important thing to remember is that when you're asking your body to carry you 26.2 miles, particularly through the night, you need to provide it with plenty of fuel!!  Don't underestimate how much your energy will drop as the night wears on - 16 miles in when it's getting cold and you're supposed to be sleeping, you'll need some food to keep you going!  Now, I stupidly thought that I could survive on Tutti Fruttis - this is not the case....sweets are great for an instant pick-me-up, but the thing that saved me, just when I thought I was going to curl up on the side of the road, was banana bread (generously handed to me by a friend who was volunteering on the night!).  So, make sure you pack a sandwich or cake or cereal bars, or anything to keep you going.  Water is provided at the pit-stops but you should carry something with you for in between stops.

Now, this may be too much information for some, but after having 3 children I do have this fear of not being near a toilet when I need one!  So, again stupidly, I stopped at the first pit-stop which was only 4 miles in - I didn't really need to go, but hey, I was there....and was still there about 20 minutes later waiting in a queue.  Remember that every time you stop, you cool down and it can be difficult to get your momentum back - my advice, stop only when you absolutely have to!

Last year, I had hoped to meet up with a few tweeters before the event, but having not pre-arranged a tweetup place it was impossible - there were over 5000 people, it just wasn't going to happen ;-) So, this year, I have planned in advance!  Firstly, we are going to meet up in Frankie and Benny's in the O2 sometime between 5:30 and 6pm - absolutely anyone wishing to join us will be very welcome.  If you miss that, I've been advised by CR-UK that a good meeting point would be at the Donation Station which will be situated just outside the main participant collection area.   The general hashtag for the event is #shine2011 and I'll be tweeting on the night using #twittershineteam, so follow that tag if you want to find out where we are :-)

If you've never taken part in a big event like this, be prepared for the sheer numbers of people at the start and that you may find the first couple of miles quite frustrating in terms of walking speed!  If your aim is to put your head down and finish as quickly as possible, definitely head to the front of the crowd before the start.  For those who I persuaded/coerced into this, we're in this as a team and I'd love for us all to be able to walk together - hopefully we can all manage to not lose each other!

So, see you on the night!  Any questions, please tweet me @crukwalton - if I don't know the answer, I can try to find out :-)

Nancy xx

Little Legs for Life - Auction!

Well, they do say that "the one thing you can't plan is the weather"..... and after months of planning our Little Legs for Life event, it pretty much poured with rain from 8:30am setup til 2pm packup....

BUT, did that dampen the enthusiasm of the 250 pairs of little legs running round our impecably planned race track?  Of course not ;-)

This is a pic of my middle baby, who managed 18 laps of the 400m course :-)

We had planned to hold a live auction at the event, but people were taking their soggy kids home as soon as they'd finished running, so we've extended our auction until 12pm on Wednesday 15th June.

You can bid by emailing littlelegsforlife@hotmail.co.uk or by sending a twitter DM http://twitter.com/crukwalton

Two of the items are very local so probably only of interest if you're in Elmbridge, but certainly the Glee Show tickets and Chelsea Football School courses may appeal to more people!

SPA DAY GUEST PASS for 2 people at FOXHILLS (Approx value £ 90)
Use of the Country Club facilities including use of the 12 Tennis Courts, The Manor Golf Course, Running Trails, daily Class timetable and full use of the Health Spa, Spa Garden and fitness area.
Treatments and lunch are not included.  Guest pass valid until 14 April 2012

2 Tickets to the GLEE SHOW at the O2 (Approx £ 100 each ticket)

2 Tickets to see the fabulous Glee Show at London’s O2 Arena on Sunday 26 June at 12:30 hours.
To add to the value the seats are in the NEC VIP BOX !!!!
Tickets only valid on Sunday 26 June at 12:30 hours and are non transferable

Places for 2 children on a CHELSEA FC FOUNDATION SCOCCER SCHOOL (Approx £ 68 per child)

This voucher entitles you to 2 spaces on a Chelsea FC Foundation Soccer School.
Chelsea’s Soccer Schools are a fantastic introduction to the game, the club and their unique coaching philosophies. The CRB checked FA qualified coaches are always on hand to inspire, encourage and share their passion for the beautiful game.
The courses are held during the school holidays and are available to boys and girls from 3 – 15 years and are held in Surrey, Sussex, London, Hants and Middlesex.

18 HOLES for 4 players at HAZELWOOD GOLF CLUB (Approx value £80)

18 Holes of golf for 4 players at the Hazelwood Golf Club, Sunbury on Thames
Voucher valid until 31 December 2011

And remember, all funds raised from this auction will go to Cancer Research UK!

thanks
Nancy x

Ben Nevis....the highs and lows

If someone had told me a year ago, that I would start my 40's by climbing a mountain with a group of total strangers, I would have never believed it.....and yet here I am with aching legs and photos to prove I did it!

I'll keep this brief, as if I try to tell the whole story I'll be here all day and also I know most people reading it can't cope with much more than 140 characters at a time ;-)

Deciding to take this trip at all was a huge step for me....I hadn't travelled alone for 15 years, and I did find myself at the airport on Friday morning wondering what on earth I was doing!  Anyway, after arriving in Glasgow, I took the bus to Fort William....a 3 hour journey made much easier by the fabulous views along the way.  Once in Fort William, I met up with my fellow adventurerers @Scublakhan @elaine0007 @clairehammond @mos_71 and their friends Stevie and Fiona - I was instantly put at ease and that was my first major hurdle done, phew!

So, on Saturday morning, we set off with the goal of reaching the summit of Ben Nevis....there's not much to tell really except that it was a long, uphill walk with stunning views - we were so incredibly lucky with the weather all day! 

We had to walk through just one small patch of slushy snow and ten minutes later we were standing at the top!  Unfortunately there wasn't much of a view as the cloud was sitting just below the summit, but after horror stories of thick fog at the top, we were happy with that!



After a well earned rest, food, and lots of photos, it was time to think about the way down.  For me, this was definitely much more difficult - although a lot quicker, it was very tough on my old knees and in many places took a lot of concentration on loose stones. 

What a fabulous experience, one I'll not forget in a hurry....a great achievement in wonderful company :-)

Of course, everything I do is in memory of my two friends who lost their lives too young to cancer.....this year I am specifically fundraising to improve treatment for pancreatic cancer patients and if you would like to support my cause, please follow this link: http://myprojects.cancerresearchuk.org/fundraising-pages/nancoise/

thanks for reading
Nancy x

 

 

Everybody is somebody.....

A tweet in my timeline this morning prompted this post:

@CharityIdeas: I said "Somebody should do something about that." Then I realized I am somebody. ~Lily Tomlin #quote

Too often we rely on 'somebody'..... votes go wasted, opportunities are missed, causes go unsupported because people can't be bothered and are banking on 'somebody' else to vote/donate/speak up/sign that petition.  What is it that makes people afraid to step up to the plate and make a difference?  I think people as individuals often feel they can't make a difference..... 'how will my vote change anything?' - but how sad and how wrong!  Everybody is somebody and your opinion/vote/passion will make that change, if only you exercise your right to be heard.....

So, my 'I am somebody' moment:

In early 2009, when the Race for Life had just opened, a friend and I were talking outside our children's classroom about the event and how disappointed my friend's son was that he couldn't take part.  My friend said "What a pity they don't do a kids Race for Life".... I took that thought away and 2 years on we are into planning our third Little Legs for Life event, in aid of Cancer Research UK!

Our first event saw 250 pairs of little legs walk or run as far as they could, and raised £15 000 - an amount way beyond our expectations.....then in 2010 the event increased to 450 children and we raised a whopping £23 000. 

Little Legs for Life makes me incredibly proud, not only because of the fundraising and bringing the community together, but because other fundraising groups around the country have loved the idea and created their own events!

So don't sit back and wait for 'somebody' to do whatever it is you've been moaning about or contemplating.... be that somebody!

N xx

Escape to the country.....well almost....

This post definitely falls under the 'stuff' category, rather than fundraising.... a little insight into life away from the laptop ;-)

In a previous life, a long time ago now, I was a proper computer geek, and did programming for a living.  I had quite a cushy job as a contractor....great pay, flexible hours and what's more is that when I had my first child they gave me a fabulous part-time contract with a laptop to work from home if I needed to, and life was good!  I really had the best of both worlds.....

Years later I'm now a full-time mum to 3 kids and part of me yearns to have that balance back.  I think people assume being at home with the kids all the time is easy, but actually it can be frustrating, lonely and at times pretty soul-destroying.....which is why I got involved in the fundraising I do, I'd have gone over the edge long ago without that focus!!

Anyway, all that is just at intro really to my recently re-discovered love of being outdoors and having some me-time.  Where I live is fairly towny, full of mums in people carriers, skip lorries and all the other things that can drive you crazy.... but a car journey of less than 10 minutes and pooch and I can be in a place which seems a milion miles away :-)

I either enjoy a long walk along the Thames tow-path or head to the local woods which has it all - hills, open space and a river....and even if I escape just once or twice a week, it's great to have a long walk and clear my head, ready for the afternoon school run and demanding kids!

Anyway, back to fundraising stories next time ;-)

Nancy xx

The Year Ahead.....

As you probably already know, I spend most of my free time raising money for Cancer Research UK.... whether it's organising fundraising events, or tweeting, fundraising is always foremost in my mind whatever I'm doing.  My very first blog post goes into the history of why I started and why I continue, so I won't go into all that again....suffice to say it's a cause very close to my heart.

In 2010, our committee raised over £25 000 for the charity, and on a personal level I took part in Shine (CR UK's first night time walking marathon) and 2 Race for Life events, raising just over £1 000 :-)

The Race for Life is one of my loves in life....I love everything about it: the hype when advertising starts, signing up, encouraging others to take part, and of course, being there on the day.  There are people who criticise the Race for Life, and the fact that it's a women's only event - personally, I wouldn't want it any other way.  There's nothing us girls love more than some girly time, being able to have fun, be a bit silly and have a natter - and all for a great cause!!

As much as I love the event, I am finding traditional fundraising (ie begging friends and family to sponsor me!) increasingly difficult.....so this year I decided to change my challenge slightly! 

I have found 3 lovely ladies (and am on the lookout for 2 more!!), who want to take part in Race for Life this year for the very first time (I won't name and shame them just yet!) - I will take part in a Race for Life event for each of these lovely ladies, in some cases, we can take part together where geography allows, where it doesn't, I'll do an additional event local to me, on or around the same date as theirs. I will still try to raise some money for my RFL events, but am hoping that I can make up for possible lack of funds, firstly by encouraging my lovely ladies in their own fundraising and training and secondly by tweeting and blogging about the 5 events and helping to raise awareness of Race for Life in general.

I will also be taking part in Shine again, this time in London - this takes part at the beginning of October, so watch this space :-)

For more information on the Race for Life series of events, please visit http://www.raceforlife.org/ - registration will be opening soon!  For more information on Shine events in London, Manchester and Glasgow, see here http://shine.cancerresearchuk.org/

Thanks for reading.....Together we will beat cancer....

Nancy x