Most of us will have experienced that gut wrenching feeling of being told a loved one has been diagnosed with cancer. With just one word your world is thrown upside down, let alone theirs. Through the whirlwind of emotions there’s paperwork to sort. Calls to make. Medication to understand and appointments to organise. In this torrent of worry and anxiety, St Elizabeth Hospice became a lifeline in helping us navigate this terrifying journey.

When the worst happened and Mrs Alston, Carolyn, Granny, Mutley (and the many other names she affectionately went by) was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in 2022, the support St Elizabeth Hospice provided was invaluable. From helping us complete the Blue Badge application to giving us a direct line to the palliative care team day or night.

As a result of their services, we were able to look after Carolyn at home in peace, surrounded by her family, until she passed away 7 months later.

To provide these essential services, St Elizabeth Hospice needs £12m a year, 70% of which comes from fund raising.

To ensure the hospice can continue to make this terrible time that little bit more bearable for other families, we are undertaking 500 km cycle from Vietnam to Cambodia in November of this year.

The challenge will see us cycling for 12 days, across two countries and travelling up to 90km in one day alone. Something, if you know us, isn’t what we’d necessarily call a nice day out. Over the next 5 months we will be training our minds, bodies and bottoms to get ready for the task ahead.

We are hoping to raise the incredibly ambitious sum of £1500 for the hospice so thank you in advance to our friends, family and anyone else who is willing to support us.