Family of Farleigh fundraisers

“I live with my husband James and our children Leo (aged 8) and Lily (aged 4) in Great Waltham.

In March 2021, my mum, Michele, was diagnosed with cancer when she was only 60. She underwent intensive treatment but it wasn’t successful. Her health deteriorated quickly and she was referred to Farleigh Hospice who looked after her in her home for about six weeks. The nurses and carers were really invaluable, administering pain relief and providing palliative care.

Then a room became available at Farleigh’s Inpatient Unit at its hospice in Broomfield. My mum was only there for three days before she passed away. We wish she could have spent longer there because it was such wonderful care – it took the pressure off her partner, Steve, and she was very comfortable in her last few days.

Afterwards, Farleigh also offered me bereavement support and I found the one-to-one and group counselling really helpful.

As a family, we want to repay Farleigh for this fantastic care and support. I have taken part in Santa Fun Run with Leo three times and will do it again this year. Lily and I have also been on the Halloween Dog Walk with our dog, Frankie.

Both my children are young so don’t remember much about my mum which is sad. By taking part in these fundraising events, we have a positive reason to keep talking about their Nana and keeping her memory alive.

When Leo heard about Farleigh’s ‘Help us pay for the extra day’ leap year appeal, he decided to do one job a day during his school holiday to raise money, including gardening and cleaning cars. It rained all week but he still managed to raise £50.

In August, I went on Farleigh’s fundraising Trek for Life to the summit of Mount Toubkal in Morocco. I turn 40 next year so I wanted to do something big and adventurous before then. I was looking for something challenging that people would sponsor me to do and so, when I received an email from Farleigh about the trek, I signed up that day!

The five-day trip was a lovely, motivational fitness goal. I trained whenever I could, doing short walks during lunchtimes at work and long walks with the dog and Leo on his bike, who was very encouraging! I also did the training walks suggested by the Farleigh fundraising team.

It felt quite daunting as the trip got closer but then I thought about the reason I was taking part. Mount Toubkal seemed like a metaphor of the mountain that my mum had to climb with her cancer treatment although, sadly, she didn’t get to the top.

There were ten of us taking part for Farleigh and we became a team supporting each other, along with the guides and support team in Morocco who were incredible. I was really determined to complete the trek but it was a lot harder than I had imagined as the rocky terrain was like walking on Mars! But I knew I was only on the mountain for three days which was achievable so I just
had to endure it.

We set off for the summit at 3am and walked up mostly by torchlight. When we reached the top, the views were amazing, breath-taking, and I felt a great sense of achievement. The hardest part was coming down! There was a hail storm and rain which made the rocks so slippery that I couldn’t relax and had to concentrate all the way.

I raised around £3,000 and Leo and I will definitely do more fundraising in the future.

Farleigh Hospice is a charity that provides invaluable care and support for the local community. If anyone is thinking of doing a similar fundraising challenge for
Farleigh, you should just sign up for it like I did. Don’t talk yourself out of it as you will have a wonderful time raising money for a great cause and you’ll never regret it!”

For more information about challenges you can take on for Farleigh click HERE

This article is taken from the Winter Lantern #112