On Sunday 21st March 2021, Ethan is joining Grief Encounter's first ever covid-secure 'forget-me-not' walk in memory of his Mum Gemma who died from blood cancer in 2017, and to raise vital funds for other bereaved children, young people and their families across the UK. You can learn more about his challenge here: https://www.griefencounter.org.uk/event/the-forget-me-not-walk/

The sad facts - a parent of a child under 18 years in the UK dies every 22 minutes - 23,600 a year. 1 in 29 5-16 year olds in the UK have lost a parent or a sibling. That's one child in every average class size. In Ethan's class at his old school in Sonning, both he and his close friend Zoe have both lost their mum's to cancer in the past three years.

Grief Encounter have been incredible for Ethan over the past two years. Every week both in person, and now online he meets with his counsellor Colin Campbell. Colin is just brilliant and helps Ethan express how he's feeling and share his worries through music and pictures. We cannot understate how important and helpful these sessions have been for Ethan. We want other families to be able to receive this kind of help.

100% of the funds Ethan raises will go towards supporting bereaved children and young people who have experienced the death of someone close, and families and individuals impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Since March last year, there have been over 100,000 deaths due to Coronavirus. Grief Encounter offer professional support services online, including group workshops, individual e-counselling and memory workshops for all of those who need them. They can't do that without your support. Just £26 could fund a helpline session for someone impacted by grief, offering them immediate help and advice following a bereavement.

The theme of the Forget-Me-Not-Walk is the number 26. £26 is the cost of each grieftalk helpline session which is such a massive help for bereaved young people. On Sunday 21st March Ethan is going to be walking the Chess Valley Walk in the Chilterns. We felt 26 miles was probably a bit far for him so we're going to be walking the ten mile walk and along the way Ethan will be doing 26 reps of 26 different exercises.

Grief Encounter have been so generous to us as a family and we'd love, through your support, to be able to give something back.

Thank you so much for supporting us.

God Bless

Ethan, Simon & Derrina x