In May I will be joining a trek in India to Dharamsala to raise vital funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care, in memory of a dear friend who passed away this year. I will be trekking at least 67km over five days. I HAVE to raise at least £2,700. PLEASE sponsor me! Read down for more details and/or to donate, Thankyou:

In June this year, my dear friend Gow Hunter passed away at the Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead, London. He was a truly beautiful person. The sort of person you only get to meet once or twice in your lifetime, if you are lucky. In my case, it was at a Buddhist Festival in the Quantocks 11 years ago when we instantly bonded and ended up having a real laugh together, two naughty school children in a serious atmosphere.

You know how it is when you meet someone and think, surely they can't REALLY be that nice, there must be something negative, but not with Gow. Just before he died, he was still asking how my children and husband were. I never heard a bad word said against him, nor did I ever hear him make a negative comment about anyone either.

Everyone who had the good fortune to meet him would say the same. Even now, his Facebook page is being updated by friends who have only recently heard of his death.

A few weeks before he went into the hospice, indeed, a few weeks before he died, I visited him in his flat. Despite being in terrible discomfort, he insisted on preparing lunch and making tea etc. He has given me lots of good advice over the years, but one thing he said that stuck in my mind on this particular day was to "please NEVER take for granted simple things in life.. like getting up painlessly in the morning, just getting out of bed, dressing and walking".

Gow was an accomplished dancer for the Royal Ballet at one stage in his illustrious career so movement was very important to him.

He was so well cared for by Marie Curie during his final weeks. He had a beautiful single room with his own pictures and music around him and fantastic nurses who doted on him, just like the rest of us. He finally passed away when there was no-one in the room except his favourite nurse, holding his hand.

It was when I was visiting him in the hospice that I noticed the poster advertising this Trek and got the insane idea to do it myself - an opportunity to transform a very sad time into something positive, bearing in mind what Gow had said to me a couple of weeks before.

PLEASE sponsor me so that Marie Curie can continue their amazing work for more people. I guarantee I will earn every penny of sponsorship...I know that most of you reading this page will have been touched by cancer in some way.

The Trek starts on May 11 2012, with an overnight flight to Delhi, followed by an overnight train journey before a three hour transfer to Dharamsala..the next day we start trekking 14km a day for the next five days. Without, I may add, any showers or sinks and bobbing behind bushes to use the loo. Anyone who knows me will know this is a massive challenge in itself to me, a big lover of home comforts. Only last weekend I put a tent up for the first time and camped two nights! And I'm 43!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate as much as you can now!

I've worked out it would take 270 people to donate £10 each, 135 people to donate £20 each, 67 and a half people to donate £40 each....breaking it down makes it more manageable for me. Please donate soon as I have to bank 80% of the funds 11 weeks before the Trek! THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU