This is the 3rd time I have volunteered (ha!) to trek for Hike for Hope. The first time, I didn't know any better, the second is because Marcus Setchell threatened to withold the anaesthetic (just joking) and this time Roger Kirby shut me in his office until I signed up..... The lengths eminent surgeons will go to to get support for their charities is amazing!

I have only one jolly tourist  on safari type photo from Kenya. The others show me as windswept, muddy, sandy, bedraggled, abseiling with my eyes closed, scrambling on all fours to the summit of Mount Longanot, soaking wet in a gorge, being ambushed by camels (don't ask)..... These treks are not for the faint-hearted or  those who need marble-topped vanity units. They are designed to be tough and testing so we really earn the money you will generously donate to WoW and Prostate UK!

We all have our story, our personal experiences of the devastating effects of cervical, ovarian, uterine, prostate cancer on our lives or of those we love and want to find better ways of preventing  or curing these terrible diseases, through advances in medical research. We have raised more than £1m from the previous 2 treks. I chair the Events Committee for WoW and have been involved with the charity's work for more than 11 years. I know that your donations go directly into WoW's endeavours at the forefront of pioneering research into the causes of ovarian cancer and work on its detection and treatment. It claims around 6000 lives every year in the UK and has a very low survival rate.  Every hour 2 women in the UK are diagnosed with a gynae cancer, but ovarian cancer kills more women than all other gynae cancers combined.

So now, you know the stats, you know how your valuable donation will be used, you know that we will earn it through blood, sweat and tears, climbing Mount Sinai, trekking across the Sinai desert until we reach the Red Sea, (no pressure, then!) so please, if possible just make a contribution to our work. There is no amount too small. Every pound literally helps to save a life. Let's trek!

With love and thanks,

Caroline x