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01 September 2021

Fundraiser with cancer walks 35 miles to raise money for AITC

Fundraiser with cancer walks 35 miles to raise money for AITC

Wendy Cunningham-White took part in Albion in the Community’s fundraising challenge Move It May and managed to raise an incredible £590.

It’s safe to say that running and physical exercise is something that came naturally to Wendy during the early stages of her life. The 61-year-old belonged to her local running club and previously took part in various marathons.

But, in 2004 her life took a dramatic change in direction.

“My ovarian cancer originally started way back in 2004. I received treatment and I was cancer-free for 14 years, but it came back in 2018,” Wendy shared. “It’s been quite a long road of hospital appointments, treatments and operations.”

She later added: “I’ve started a new type of treatment called immunotherapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital, which is scheduled every three weeks for the next two years to hopefully rid this dreadful disease.”

As a result of her treatment and two substantial operations, Wendy now has severe restrictions to her mobility and relies on a walking stick to do basic chores around the house. Considering the trauma her body has been through, Wendy herself considers it a miracle that she can walk at all.

Nevertheless, this hasn’t dampened her spirits. Wendy is choosing to focus on the positives in life and is keen to get outside and stay active with regular exercises during the week and taking part in Albion in the Community’s Brighter Outlook physical activity sessions via Zoom. Because of the charity’s support to help her stay active during her cancer treatment, Wendy decided to give something back by taking part in the charity’s Move It May fundraising challenge.

Over the course of the month, participants were encouraged to walk, jog or run a mile every day for the entire month.

Despite living with cancer and currently undergoing therapy, Wendy still managed to walk a mile every day with a walking stick and in terrible weather conditions. Furthermore, on the 24th May, Wendy stepped further out of her comfort zone and trekked an incredible five miles.

Wendy’s efforts have been a huge inspiration and a comment left on her JustGiving page summarised everything about this incredible fundraiser.

“Your resilience, tenacity and sense of humour is an inspiration to us all,” one supporter said.

Mark Barkaway, Head of Marketing and Income Generation at Albion in the Community agreed: “It’s fundraisers like Wendy who make such a big difference to our work. We rely on donations to help us have an impact and support people in our communities to get active, learn new skills or improve their wellbeing. Everyone at the charity is so grateful for the inspiring effort that Wendy has made to help.”

If you would like to follow in Wendy’s footsteps and fundraise for AITC, you can email fundraising@bhafcfoundation.org.uk or visit our website bhafcfoundation.org.uk.

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