This September, I will be trekking through the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, and will reach the summit of Jebel Toubkal, North Africa’s highest mountain. I will be undertaking this challenge to raise money for the Anthony Nolan Trust. Anthony Nolan is a UK charity that works in the areas of leukaemia and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. It manages and recruits donors to the Anthony Nolan Register, one of the three bone marrow registers in the United Kingdom. A bone marrow transplant gave Lucy valuable time, hope, and one last Christmas with us, her loving husband Wayne, and her son Rocco.

 Last summer, after two years valiantly fighting her illness, my family lost Lucy to Leukaemia. Lucy has been a huge influence on me for all of my life, as my aunt,a big sister and a dear friend.  Living a life of adventure, I watched Lucy become unstoppable throughout the duration of my childhood; it seemed that no challenge would halt her, and each one she would overcome. Lucy would come and go, she was never in one place for long, but I have always been so eager to see her, to hear her stories and to learn from her.  She taught me that I could do whatever I wanted to do, that nothing was impossible. Her wisdom showed me the importance of seeing the world, of the development of understanding and learning through experience.

In memory of Lucy Barry please support me in my quest to raise the life-supporting and in many cases, life-saving funds for Anthony Nolan Trust. Thank you.