Natalie, my dearest friend, was diagnosed with Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2015, aged 28. Sadly, despite putting up one hell of a fight and giving it her all, she passed away. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of Natalie and I miss my best friend more than I can put into words. In memory of Natalie I want to help raise money for Anthony Nolan to help support others going through the same ordeal. Therefore I am putting myself through the gruelling challenges of the Spartan obstacle races.....The first challenge is the Spartan Sprint on Sunday 8th April... (5+ k of muddy terrain and 15+ obstacles). The next challenge is the next level up...the Spartan Super on Saturday 23rd June 2018...10k+ kilometres of muddy terrain with 25+ obstacles!!

I want to thank you all in advance for your support and any donation you can spare, it is truly appreciated. Natalie; now it’s my turn to put up the fight, or if anything, at least entertain you as you watch over me laughing xxx

Natalie’s story.....After a very intensive chemotherapy regime she got into remission in June 2015. Anthony Nolan matched Natalie with a stem cell donor in Germany. Natalie was due to have her Transplant in July but unfortunately relapsed. Fortunately Natalie was accepted on a clinical trial which got her back into complete remission within a month. Natalie went on to have total body irradiation and had her stem cell transplant on the 27th October 2015. Natalie was taken into Intensive care a month after her stem cell transplant. She had been given a lot of fluid to treat suspected infections and this fluid unfortunately compromised her breathing. She was placed into an induced coma and a few days later had to receive a life saving technique that took over the job of her lungs called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. This took blood out of her body and oxygenated it. A few days later they were able to oxygenate her body adequately with a ventilator. After a month being in a coma Natalie was woken and her rehabilitation started. Natalie was told that her stem cells had engrafted and that she was 100% donor which was fantastic news.

While in intensive care she received infection after infection and unfortunately on the 14th February she had to be placed back into a coma. Another infection had taken her down. A few weeks later she had been diagnosed with Acute Pancreatitis. This on top of all the infections caused Natalie's body to give up. Not once did Natalie want to give up. She fought until the end. Throughout her illness she never complained. She never said "Why me?" She coped with everything with beautiful dignity. Without a matched stem cell donor Natalie wouldn't have had the chance that she so deserved. There is not enough donors on the register with just over 500,000 potential life savers. Becoming a potential life saver is easy and is done from a simple spit test. And the donation itself isn't as daunting as you think.

Large or small, your donation will make a big difference to people with blood cancer.
£40 could add a new lifesaver to our register.
£21 could fund one hour of research into ensuring more people survive blood cancer.
£10 could pay for a ‘spit kit’ which is the first step in recruiting each lifesaver to our register.
£5 could get vital information to a patient and their family.

Every day, Anthony Nolan saves the lives of people with a blood cancer or blood disorder. Lets all help by raising funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust in Natalie's Memory, and for all our loved ones we have lost to blood cancer. Anthony Nolan won’t stop until they save the lives of everyone who needs a stem cell transplant. Every penny you donate brings them closer to that day.