My Why

My Mum - My WHY

I lost my mum to lung cancer the year before lockdown and was there with my brother, holding her hand until the final moments. It was a truly horrific, debilitating disease with no let up until the end, something I’ve learned is different from many diseases (lungs being involuntary). The strange and immediate sense of peace at the end was surreal after the suffering, but something I believe many will understand. She wasn’t ready to go, she said so, but life can be cruel sometimes, cancer is indiscriminate, no matter your age, general health or how loved you are.

She was a truly amazing woman, my rock through childhood to adulthood. Moreover, a rock to many, the stories I heard from strangers at her funeral of how she had impacted them and how they honestly believed she had saved their own lives through her counselling and wisdom. A great mother and utterly devoted Grandma H! ❤️

Since then, I have felt the need to somehow give back to charities who supported her and us. Annual Macmillan coffee mornings (a Macmillan Marathon through lockdown) were fantastic, but I also want to support research into preventing, or at least early diagnosis of this horrific disease to reduce the suffering. And the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation raise awareness and support this goal, and our whole family were on Roy’s Saturday Superstore show as kids so feel it’s somehow gone full circle.

Please give anything you can - every penny will go to preventing suffering and prolonging happiness for generations to come. My 2021 London Marathon was in memory of Mum x

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