My Dad died in April 2010, very suddenly and unexpectedly, when he was 63. Dad, Mum and I had always been very close (being an only child and having very little “extended” family) so when he died, it hit both me and Mum extremely hard.

As most people do, I muddled along for a bit until eventually I went to speak to my doctor. I will always be grateful for him suggesting that I contact Cruse Bereavement Care. 

I was put in touch with a wonderful lady at Cruse called Hillary, and I spoke to her once a week for around 8 months.  She was patient and kind and understanding, and we talked about everything. I told her about my Dad and how he was funny and stubborn and kind and generous and amazing at building and fixing things and, at times totally infuriating, and how much I missed all of those things and more.  I cried a lot, obviously, but unbelievably we laughed a lot too when I told her stories about him and it helped more that I can really put into words.

Next year will be 10 years since Dad died and I wanted to set myself a big challenge to raise money for Cruse, in memory of my Dad.  So, in October 2020, I will be setting off on a 3 week trek to Everest Base Camp!  The challenge will be 6 to 9 hours trekking a day, temperatures as low as -10c and of course, dealing with altitude at over 5,000 meters!  This is very much out of my comfort zone!

I would really love to raise £1,000 for Cruse, so anything that you would be able to donate would be very much appreciated by me and the team at Cruse, to help them to support people through their toughest times, just as they supported me through mine.

Also, I think it’s important to let everyone know, 100% of your donations will go directly to Cruse, as I am paying for the full cost of the trip personally.

Thank you so much for anything you can donate.