Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. As you are here, you would know that I am planning to completing a trek to raise funds for St Clare Hospice. Here is my story!

I have been at St Clare Hospice as a doctor since 2000. During this time, I worked as junior doctor, middle grade doctor, then consultant and now I work as Medical Director. My experience has been made rich by my patients and my passion has grown every year.

I get to hear questions like, ‘how do you do it?’ or ‘is it not depressing?’ or even ‘does it not affect your family life?’

Truth is that my inspiration comes from my patients and their families. They impress me with their stories and resilience. I also get energised by my work with some incredible people who, every day, go beyond the call of duty to provide care, fund-raise, organise, manage, volunteer and in short make the unbearable bearable for people.

Once I had a young patient, barely in her early 30s. She had advanced cancer and hospice team looked after her in last days of her life. It was so difficult to manage her distress and expectations, but as time progressed, she developed more trust in hospice staff. I recall going to her room when she was in last days of life.

I asked her. ‘How are you feeling now?’

She smiled faintly and said. ‘I am happy.’

I asked: ‘Happy about what?’

She said: ‘If I did not have this disease, I would not have met so many nice people!’

That smile and phrase were the epitome of care that we work hard to achieve at hospice.

And to achieve all that, we have to raise funds every single day of the year. Many times I walked in a local supermarket and have been greeted by people whose family member St Clare had cared for. This gives me such a huge satisfaction, motivates me to be a leader. Since I became medical director, we have achieved an OUTSTANDING rating from the Care Quality Commission.

I try to do my bit. You all have been marvellous and helped me in the past whenever, I have asked you to donate money. I have tried to do my part. I have done treks and walks and requested you to sponsor me. Hospice funding is hard to get. We had recent crisis of COVID when we could not hold fund-raising activities for a fair while. Cost of living and therefore staff wages have increased. All of us have to do our part as we plan to reach significantly more people in our local communities.

I have accepted the challenge to trek Great Wall of China. The trekking on this charity challenge is hard, due to a number of steps we trek up and down each day – it can sometimes take an hour just to trek 1km! Another highlight of this challenge is to conquer the 1,000 steps up to the wall at Mutianyu – culminating with the ascent of the ‘Heavenly Ladder’.

So I am reaching out to you. I have accepted this challenge because I trust in goodness I find in YOU. I believe that YOU all want a hospice to not just SURVIVE but also THRIVE. Our Hospice is a place where we all believe in dignified care and we want to cultivate that culture among our colleagues and communities. We can only do this with YOUR help. So please help me complete this challenge and make sure that patients continue to receive the OUTSTANDING care, which they deserve.

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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.