Rachel Tuckey
4 BIG CHALLENGES FOR THE BIG 4-0
Fundraising for Leicester Hospitals Charity
Story
If turning 40 wasn’t hard enough, I have decided to make things a bit more challenging by completing 4 big challenges in order to raise money for Leicester Children’s Hospital Charity.
1 | Earth Challenge | Yorkshire 3-Peaks | 24 miles | 12 hours | 10 ladies | Saturday 23rd July 2022
COMPLETE!
2 | Air challenge | Tandem Skydive | 13,000ft | 7 friends | Sunday 25th September 2022
COMPLETE!
3 | Water challenge | 10km Great Swim | 4.5 hours | 6 friends | Sunday 18th December 2022
COMPLETE!
4 | Fire challenge | Wolf Run 10k | Sunday 23rd April 2023
COMPLETE!
All challenges are self-funded so 100% of funds raised are for Leicester Children's Hospital Charity.
As most of you will know, Leicester Children’s Hospital is incredibly close to our hearts. The amazing staff and facilities kept us together as a family of four at a time when the odds were stacked against us.
When our second son, Oscar, was born in September 2018 we had no idea that the Leicester Royal Infirmary would become like a second home to us. Oscar was born with many health issues which - thrown in with bronchiolitis - culminated in him having severe breathing problems and often left him unable or struggling to breathe for himself.
Our first blue light admission was when Oscar was only two weeks old, with his last – and most critical – in the early hours of 10th March 2019 just a week off his half-year birthday (you can read more about that here).
Oscar had major surgery in April 2019 and has since been going from strength to strength, proving everyone wrong and bull-dozering his way through every challenge in his life with a cheeky smile on his face.
Through it all we were lucky enough to meet some of life’s true unsung heroes. The amazing CICU, HDU & A&E doctors and nurses who work relentlessly on 12 hour shifts, the fantastic ward staff who juggle their day job with fighting endless battles for beds/equipment/time and the other parents who were going through their own battles with their beautiful little ones.
Leicester Children’s Hospital has done for us what we felt, at times, was the impossible and now I would like to do something as near to impossible for me as I can to help raise much needed funds for them to continue their incredible work. I can’t explain how much it would mean to me to somehow help to keep other families together against the odds.
Thank you for your support x
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4 | Fire Challenge | 10km Spring Wolf Run | 28 Friends & Family | Sunday 23rd April 2023
“Fire represents energy, a tool for transformation, connection to personal power, and inner strength.”
It’s amazing how much stronger we are than we give ourselves credit for. We can truly surprise ourselves if we let ourselves venture outside of our comfort zones.
That first year of Oscar's life put us so far out of our comfort zone we lived on a different planet. People used to ask “How do you do it? How do you cope?” and all we could answer was “Because what is the other choice?”. Everything is relative. Our situation was extreme to some, but we witnessed things that made us feel like we were the lucky ones. And we were the lucky ones because we still have Oscar with us today.
Throughout all of my challenges I have watched my amazing friends push themselves outside of their comfort zones and I couldn’t be prouder of them.
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3 | Water Challenge | 10km Great Swim | 6 Friends & Family | Sunday 18th December 2022
COMPLETE!
“Water represents emotional release, intuition and inner reflection”
10km, that’s 400 lengths of a 25m pool, with a total of 4.5 hours to complete it, maximum. That’s averaging one length every 40 seconds maximum… including water breaks…
And what's more, we have Rebecca Adlington starting us off!
The first eight months of Oscar’s life we didn’t have one month where we weren’t either being admitted, living or discharged from hospital. Quite often we were admitted and discharged multiple times in a month and even a week.
As parents we played the emotional long game. We weren’t quite human. We couldn't get too happy when he came home, and we couldn't allow ourselves to get too emotional when he was rushed in. We held everything together as much as we could in the hope that the light at the end of the tunnel was around the next corner.
I remember getting to the end of June 2019 and realising that Oscar had had his first month without being in hospital. Nine months of holding my breath and I finally exhaled. And I broke. When everything was OK with Oscar, that’s when things weren’t OK with me. And it took a long time, therapy, friends and family for that to change.
This challenge is my solo endurance challenge – although I will be joined by others in the pool, there is no chatting, no banter, no hugs… just me, the water and a lot of swimming.
Chuffed to be joined by Helen Tunnicliffe, Lisa Bentley-Whittaker, Jill Tipple, Dan Waller & Chris Fox for this challenge.
A huge thank you to Total Swimming Academies & Bosworth Academy for their support with this challenge!
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2 | Air challenge | Tandem Skydive | 13,000ft | 7 Friends | Sunday 25th September 2022
COMPLETE!
"Air represents intellect, mental intention, and connection to universal life force.”
Quite honestly the challenge I am most terrified about! Jumping out of an aircraft at 13,000 feet and plunging down to earth at speeds of over 120 mph, descending to 5,000 feet in around 40 seconds. Parachute goes and it's 6 minutes down to earth!
I will be accompanied by six amazing (but crazy) friends on this challenge; Dean Findell, Elliot Henry-Smith, Carlie Ridgway, Jennie Wall, Jemma Ellison & Gareth Ellison.
It's amazing how we take the act of breathing for granted – we do it without giving it a second thought, and rightfully so... but we have been unlucky to see another side of it. Watching someone when they can’t breathe for themselves is heart wrenching, when it’s your baby son it’s life changing.
After three months on and off oxygen support, CPAP and ventilators we were incredibly lucky to meet Oscar’s ENT Consultant who became our rainbow in the storm. He knew something was fundamentally wrong with Oscar’s breathing/airways from our first meeting and he took whatever his gut was telling him & acted on it. He was ultimately the one who operated on Oscar and gave him (and us) the quality of life he has today. We can never thank him enough.
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1 | Earth Challenge | Yorkshire 3-Peaks | 24 miles | 12 hours | 10 ladies | Saturday 23rd July 2022
COMPLETE!
“Earth represents grounding, the foundation of life, substance, connection to life path and family roots”
So to launch my first challenge… and for this one I have recruited some help from a local fitness group (and a great friend of mine) MyTribeLeicestershire & Jo Waller to complete quite literally a hike marathon!
Yorkshire 3-Peaks is not for the faint hearted. The route is 24 miles (38.6km), and includes 1585m (5200ft) of ascent, and all to be completed in under 12 hours.
After we were discharged from Oscar’s first CICU admission at 5 weeks old, I tried to continue as “normal” a maternity leave as I could, and stumbled across a daytime fitness class specifically designed for postpartum ladies where babies were welcome. I signed up for a 12-week pass but I only managed to go to a couple of classes before Oscar’s health took a turn for the worse.
Through our struggles Jo always kept the door open to her classes, checked in on me regularly and became one of those unexpected strangers that was an incredible support to me during hospital admissions and then through my own personal battles after Oscar was OK.
Nowadays I am a fully fledged regular member of the My Tribe family, and what a great family it is! Jo and I will be accompanied on this challenge by eight fellow MyTribe members; Hayley Chesterman, Hayley Pitts, Jess Findell, Tracy Males-Bundhoo, Sam Mead, Natalie Chinn, Emily Jackson & Jemma Ellison.