From 13th - 20th Aug 2011 we will be cycling from London to Edinburgh in order to raise very much needed money for Maggie's Centres. Over the one week period we will cycle an average of 66 to 70 miles a day, covering a total of more than 450 miles.

 

Your donation can help keep the smile on a Cancer patient and, for the family members that we do not see, your donation can help keep a family strong when it is needed and to express emotions to someone when they feel there is no one to talk to.

 

My mother, Kay Baxter, sadly passed away from Cancer on December 29th 2009. Mum had first been told she had breast Cancer in 2007 and after a brave fight beat this.

 

Sadly in 2009, on the 24th December, my wife called me at work to say that mum had gone to hospital as she was having difficulty with breathing but was generally ok. I left work and spent all the time I could with her. Mum was still so happy and strong during this time and did not show any emotion except from the happiness to see the family.  Mum was at the new royal infirmary in Edinburgh and because of the time of year (Christmas) it was a skeleton staff - who did a fantastic job - but she had to wait till the 29th to get a scan.

 

I was at home and my younger sister came home to tell me the results of the scan - the cancer was back. This devastated me and I had no idea what to do. I got my coat and just wanted to run there as my car was broken at the time. We went in and the nurse told me that it may be good to get all the family in. We were told at 9pm on the 28th Dec and my mum passed at 3am on the 29th Dec, so to me it felt like she only had it for 6 hrs.

 

The Maggie's Centre was a place where my mum could go after treatment and feel at home with other patients like her and it would lift her up to know that these people do care, they are not there just for the sake of it. Maggie's Centres do so much more both for patients and their family members that a lot of us do not know about.

 

Please please please give all you can as the money you donate on this page will go straight to the charity. Just like me and my family know as do thousands of others, we have had cancer in our lives and beaten it but it came back again and changed our lives for ever. Giving as much as you can will help others tp understand the effects of cancer: how to live with it and at times beat it, which is on the rise.

 

Kay Baxter is my mum and will always be in our hearts and will never be forgotten by me, my sisters, her three grandsons and three grandaughters.

 

Thank you for your support.