Yet again wonderful, selfless, people have been active for CANCERactive, fundraising in all manner of ways to help people less fortunate than themselves stand the very best chance of beating cancer. We have had people raise money at coffee mornings, in their shops, through their treatments, plus skydivers, runners, trekkers and even one man almost up Everest raising funds for our unique charity.
And I can promise you every penny counts. The Trustees and management of this charity take no remuneration whatsoever so that more of the funds can go where it matters to helping people beat cancer, by providing a wealth of information on complementary and alternative therapies, not just orthodox ones, for free all over the UK.
Will Reynolds, Mark Leach and Dave Willis braved the elements and took part in the Great South Run in Portsmouth in October. All finished in reasonable times despite getting lashed by the costal winds and rain! Then Dominic Lewis, Matt Mullen, Robert Hope and Adam Webber showed fantastic support for CANCERactive by running the Dublin Marathon in October. After several gruelling months of training they were elated at reaching the finishing line. Thank you boys for your fantastic donations.. Meanwhile Steve Randall, obviously a glutton for punishment, beat fatigue and a lack of oxygen to put a CANCERactive banner three quarters of the way up Everest!! You can read some of their intrepid exploits below. Fun, exciting, worthwhile, memorable, or just plain hard work. We appreciate every penny, we promise you. So what are you waiting for how ’active’ are you?
The Family Get Together
An extract from a letter from Nicolette Maybee "A few years ago my Father’s side of the family realised that we only see each other at weddings and funerals and as there weren’t any weddings on the horizon, we decided to hold a family get together. We’ve done this twice now. There are forty of us with ages ranging from eight to eighty three and it’s wonderful to just sit and chat. We also hold a bit of a quiz and a dance towards the end of the evening which amuses everyone. One of the family likes to pay for the hire of a small function room and others bring a cake. A donation of 10 each then covers the cost of a buffet and bar staff, with a bit left over. We also take along any unwanted Christmas gifts and buy raffle tickets to win what each other has brought. With some very generous gifts on the table quite a lot of raffle tickets get sold.
We’ve raised over 300 each time we’ve done this and both times my family have asked me to forward the money on to CANCERactive. They all know I was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer nearly five years ago and they are aware that by following Chris Woollams’ advice I seem to be living very well on it! At the first ’do’ I gave a short talk about Catherine & Chris and the regime that they have inspired me to follow. Without getting too ’heavy’ I also made the point that prevention is SO much easier than cure and I urged them to consider the wisdom and inspiration that Chris makes available for everyone.
So this is my family’s way of saying Thank You CANCERactive for all that you have done for us."
The Skydive
Amit and Aman
"It was the eve of the skydive, I readily prepared myself for an early night with my head falling to the pillow at 10pm. Sleep had not even yet dawned on me, but when it eventually found me...the day had commenced. It was 6am.... dark, dreary and for me totally disengaged from the activity I was soon to be participating in. The sheer feeling of
adrenaline was gripping me from the minute I left my house, to the very minute I stepped into the car to make my journey to the airfield. I wasn’t alone in this venture my good friend Aman was to be joining me in the 10,000FT skydive. (Thank God.)
Upon arrival at the airfield, the excitement was overwhelming. There were a large number of varying age groups preparing for the dive and it was interesting appreciating multiple
different facial expressions throughout the training that we received. The safety talks delivered by the professional instructors were somewhat soothing and helped relax my state of mind, especially given that the parachute was worth 10,000 for a good reason; its safety unquestionable surely?
However, the relaxed feeling swiftly moved to that of nerves again thanks to an almost three hour wait. The sheer feeling of anticipation was significant and when myself and Aman’s names were called out it was almost a relief. We then were lead to put on our skydiving suits and given final instructions on how to land for me that was more a final
opportunity to send Aman up in the plane alone! We looked somewhat ridiculous, almost like spacemen, but nonetheless endeavoured to board the plane with our instructors and cameramen it seemed only right to have such an event filmed.
We were some several feet above the clouds, securely attached to our respective
instructors, when reality came knocking at my door, it wasn’t so surreal anymore.. I was about to plunge 10,000FT... to safety of course. With the pilot signalling us good to go, the door wide open, I slowly edged to the exit position looking down at the lifeless atmosphere. With a slight push from my instructor I was out of the lane and freefalling at 100 mph into the clouds.
Words aren’t suitable when attempting to match or express the feeling, adrenaline and mental captivity that were running through my veins. I just wanted to keep feeling whatever it was what I was feeling; the feeling of the unknown, the pushing of boundaries....and ultimately the feeling of living on the edge. With the parachute now open, it was time to relax and enjoy the profound views whilst cruising and steering the
parachute towards the airfield. I was very satisfied that the instructor allowed me to
steer the chute. It’s a good thing he knew nothing of my questionable navigation
skills. After gliding for several minutes and descending through the air, we landed to safety. It was only then I wondered how Aman got on up there, of course he landed only seconds after me.
What may have been only a few minutes of madness, will hold in my memory like a lifetime of madness. It was those minutes that took my breath away... quite literally!
I am very proud to have raised money for CANCERActive, who are a great cause whom I intend to continue to show support to next year via fundraising activities. I would encourage anybody to take part in skydive and have fun and raise money for a good cause simultaneously everyone is a winner."
Amit Arora
Running for CANCERactive
SarahTonry
I was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2007. I had the tumor removed along with 13 lymp nodes... Which seemed very excessive.After masses of research and huge pressure from
everyone I decided not to have any treatment. I was supposed to have radiotherapy , my ovaries removed or a drug to shut them down and Tamoxifen. I found Patricia Peat, who has a column in i c o n , a fantastic support and font of information. A while later when I
was at the Penny Brohn cancer clinic I came across a copy of icon magazine. This was a fantastic discovery and I read it from cover to cover. It happened to be an issue on breast cancer. I have since introduced many people to CANCERactive and the magazine.
As part of my treatment I decided to take up running and decided to run for CANCERactive. It was a challenge as this was my 1st run with other people and there were quite a few of them!!I It was fantastic to finish the race in 2 hours...Not so fast but not last!!!
I am now nearly 2 years clear and feeling healthy. I am also training for the London Marathon which is on my 50th birthday... Seemed like a good idea at the time...!!
Charity skydive and trek to Peru!
Rosemary Cunningham
On 18th October I started my fundraising with training to do a skydive above Diss in Norfolk. I did a jump as a student back in 1988 and that was incredible. However, this jump is a freefall, dropping for 55 seconds before we open our own parachutes!
Unfortunately to date the weather at weekend has been so poor that as of the beginning of December I’ve not done my jump yet!! Hopefully before Christmas! The wind needs to be less than 10 mph to jump and Norfolk has been very windy!
Phase Two is in March when I trek through Peru to the forgotten city of Machu Picchu, one of the world’s most important archaeological finds, on the Inca trail. This takes five days and we’ll be climbing to a height of 4,400 metres. Between now and the end of March,
I’m personally donating 2 for every client I treat to Cancer Active. The aim of CANCERactive is to empower people by providing them with information - ALL the information - including complementary, alternative and new therapies used effectively elsewhere in the world so they can make more informed choices and thus increase their personal chances of beating this disease. They have been a big help to many clients, friends and relatives of mine over the years. Please help me reach my target of 3000! You can donate online with by clicking below this link www.justgiving.com/rosemarycunningham
Parachute Jump
Mirjana Brennan and Deanna V’Icevska
Mirjana and Deanna raised the magnificent sum of 1550 for CANCERactive by completing a parachute jump earlier this year. They did the jump the day after Mirjana’s 60th birthday. A few weeks later she retired after giving 40 years of her life working with cancer patients. The day they jumped they were blessed with amazing weather and said it was one of the best things they had done, absolutely exhilarating! The jump was in honour of Catherine Woollams, who was a patient of Mirjana’s during her radiotherapy treatment at The Cromwell Hospital. Mirjana said that the magazines and books provide patients and nurses with a wealth of information.
NovemberTrek to Everest
Steve Randall
"The trek was particularly hard this time due to the amount of people and Yaks on the paths. On the fourth day of the trek I had some altitude sickness which is a bit like having flu but you have to keep walking. My friend, who is on the right of the picture, got food poisoning and was very ill. We had to leave him behind at one point but he managed to catch us up again the next day. The scenery is just the best in the world but you need to be there to appreciate it. The Nepalese people are really friendly which makes this one of the best high altitude walks you can do. Over the two weeks walking I lost a stone in weight (lack of red wine) but you feel really fit when you come back down".