Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As I start this journey I have 241 days before I fly out to Beijing with my good friend Lissa McGown. We are TEAM TREKSPIRATION and between us we would like to raise £10,000! I know that's a phenomenal amount of money to raise but it's for such a worthwhile cause. We will be spending six days trekking the Great Wall of China in October 2016.

During the past couple of years I have become more aware of mental health in the UK and in particular Alzheimer’s. Several of my friends and their family members have been impacted by dementia and their stories are heart breaking.

I have a bucket list and as I grow older I am working my way through the list. One of the items on the list is to do something significant for a charitable worthwhile cause. In November last year I was perusing my way through the latest issue of Psychologies magazine... and there it was... leaping with boundless energy out of the page SHOUTING at me to 'get my happy on' and DO SOMETHING. An advertisement from the Alzheimer's Society promoting the trek. A couple of days prior to that I had met with a couple of friends for dinner on separate occasions and they had told me their stories. I cried at the dinner table....

I cannot begin to imagine what it must feel like to be in their shoes - the parent or the child, or anyone....watching someone whom they love and cherish diminish, and to feel totally helpless and unprepared.

This is a huge challenge for me and my decision to participate has not been taken lightly. It has taken me three months to bite the bullet and register, but I know I will be raising funds to help support people to live well with dementia today and fund research to find a cure for tomorrow.

I do not exercise on a regular basis, I am a very fussy eater, I do not like being away from home, I have slight back issues, I am not so keen on heights and I have never aspired to visit China.

To be honest with you, the past few years have been a bit of a struggle for me on a personal level. I won't go in to detail but suffice it to say that this is going to be my way of hopefully 'finding myself again'. So whilst I'm trekking along that wall I shall be dusting away those cobwebs in my head and hopefully finding some way of 'channelling my inner peace' within myself too.

So... this is for you... my dear friends... you know who you are... and for your parents.... and for all those twinkling stars in the sky whose precious lives have already been taken

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