December this year will mark the ten-year anniversary since my wonderful dad, Paul Lomax sadly passed away from cancer. Although every year has seemed like a personal milestone for me, I thought it would be a great opportunity to remember what a fantastic human being he was by raising money for Dr Kershaws Hospice.

I have decided to do a series of 6 various challenges over 6 months, including walking, running and volunteering, some of which are inspired by places that had sentimental value to my dad. I will also be releasing a music video (slightly embarrassing) in December, which I made in college that features my dad and me.

Challenges as follows:

July – Walking from Manchester to Blackpool

August – Walking from Porthleven to Lands End

September – Three Peak mountain challenge Lake District

October – Manchester Half Marathon

November – Richmond Half Marathon

December – Video Post and surprise

Dr Kershaws is my chosen charity because of the care and love me and my family received during a really tough time when my dad was a patient. It was impossible to get any positivity from the situation, but somehow they made it as calm and peaceful as it could possibly be, and for that I will be forever greatful.

During the time my family spent there, the staff kindly let me stay in a spare bed on the ward. I was very fortunate that there was one available so I didn’t have to go home and could spend every minute by my dad’s side. I’m sure other families can relate to this type of love and attention with their own stories.

It costs £8,000 a day for the Hospice to continue providing its vital free health service. They are currently in the process of extending the building and maintaining the current one so they need all the help they can get.

The new single-storey ward layout incorporates 8 single en-suite rooms and two-bed rooms, plus a family room and a new central nursing station to optimise patient observation. 

The contractors will also be tasked with putting a new roof on the existing two-storey section of the building, incorporating solar panels to help reduce the Hospice’s considerable energy bills. 

Due to the current layout they are unable to accommodate patients for pain control when the ward of the same sex is full, with the new layout of private rooms they will have more accessibility and availability to patients of all genders. 

The two bedrooms will give the option to the significant others of the patients to stay with their loved one, as I did, during their last days. Currently they have one family room that is away from the ward and this is constantly in use, by increasing this they aim to achieve an even greater level of service to all the families affected.

Increasing patients from the multi-cultural and the LGBT society is another of the Hospice's goals and they feel having private rooms, will attract a wider aspect of the community to use the services that Dr Kershaws provide.

As my fund raising will be over the period of 6 months, the donation page will be open for anyone to make a contribution up until the end of December 2019. I will be documenting and posting updates on all social media platforms to show you how my challenges go. I haven’t set a target amount to raise so if you can spare any money between now and then, I would appreciate it so much.

Some people will understand when I say every year gets harder, but I am filled with happiness knowing that the world had the opportunity to have someone like Paul Lomax in it.  

Thanks for taking the time to read x