Over the past few months, we are delighted to have supported Danielle Parnell, Sandra Parker, Sharon Abbott and Carol Brown’s tremendous fundraising efforts for Macmillan Cancer Support. Through our match funding grant scheme, we have donated over £800 to the charity. Below, they share their stories of what inspired to take up their various challenges.
“The motivation for completing the charity walk was driven by an attempt to improve our own wellbeing during the second lockdown. More often than not, it is easy to forget to look after yourself whilst caring for other people, especially in a management role.
As we both work front line in health and social care, we saw first-hand the effect that the lockdown was having on the accessibility of charities and support for those who needed it most and, at the forefront of this was the decrease in fundraising. So, we thought – Why not? Let’s give it a go!
We chose Macmillan as we know many people affected by cancer, whether that be first-hand or through family, friends, colleagues or people in our care.
The walk was 26 miles along the coast from Brighton to Eastbourne, passing through the 7 sisters. The walk, whilst being a challenge, was really inspiring as there were so many different people from different walks of life, with different abilities and fitness levels but that didn’t matter, all that mattered was that we were all there, together, raising money for a deserving cause.
We raised a total of £1185 and with the donation from the Care Tech foundation will take our total to £1435!! This will pay for a specialist Macmillan nurse to work closely with an individual for 1 whole week with some money left over. This money is absolutely life changing./We are so grateful to all of our sponsors, especially the Care Tech foundation for supporting us with this”
Danielle Parnell and Amy Pieda
“I lost my wonderful mum to ovarian cancer 21 years ago. She was only in her early 60’s. Macmillan nurses supported her and the immediate family at a very difficult time in our lives. Their work is invaluable and they deserve every penny they can get. This last year has been incredibly hard for all charities so I was determined to do my bit – a blisteringly hot day and the loss of 2 toe nails was worth it!
The additional support from the Foundation will help patients and families at their time of need. This is an amazing charity and I wish to thank the Foundation for their generous contribution”
Carol Brown
“Thank you so much to the Caretech Foundation for matching my sponsorship of £110. My family and many others have been impacted by cancer and in our case, we were lucky to be supported by a Macmillan nurse. They have always been on the end of the phone if we were worried, wanted to talk or just needed general help. They help not just with explaining the treatments but also with everyday problems like paying bills, parking at the hospital etc.
My family members were lucky and responded well treatment. They are in remission however; we still get phone calls from Macmillan to check to see we are well. This is my way of thanking them, just a little, for what they did for us.
I would like to thank all my friends and family as well as the Foundation for sponsoring my walks during my ‘A Mile A Day in May’ challenge, you were all very generous”
Sandra Parker
“Cancer unfortunately touches us all at some point in our lives, and in May this year I found out my best friend has a Glioblastoma brain tumour. She underwent open brain surgery and she, her family and friends are taking each day as it comes.
She was particularly upset about losing her hair so I promised her I would go bald with her and it happened sooner rather than later. I know Macmillan have struggled with funds due to lockdown so I decided we could raise some money as well for a good cause.
Once I started the fundraising, two of my managers suggested I contact the Foundation to see if they could support our efforts.
I ‘braved the shave’ on the 24th July and the Foundation contacted me to say they would send Macmillan £250 to match fund my fundraising efforts. To say I was overjoyed is an understatement, so far I have raised a total of £1,680 for such an important charity. I cannot thank my sponsors and the Foundation enough for their generous donations!”
Sharon Abbott