Race For Life, Race For Jessica
On the 30th May 2010, at roughly 11:00am Bute Park will be dominated..by females! With a mixture of mothers, daughter, sisters and even grandmothers the park will be host to a sponsored 5k –“Race for Life”, which aims to raise money for cancer research.
A mixture of old and young will be brought together to experience an emotional journey together. Somewhere in that mixture will be 6 of my girls - running for the memory of Jessica May Evans who lost her battle with cancer on July 12th 2006. It is my aim to get as much funding as possible available in order to prevent this cruel disease continuing.
What is race for life? Race For Life began in 1984 and is the largest fundraising event, specifically aimed at females. Some women take part in race for life to celebrate their survival after their battle with cancer, others do it in memory of a loved one that has either died or suffered with cancer, and others complete Race for Life in order to obtain a healthier lifestyle, while doing something worthwhile.
The main reason however that people take part in Race for Life is to raise money for Cancer Research UK working to beat cancer! At the present moment 4.7 million women have raised over £370 million!
Why do I support Race for Life? Losing someone to any illness is hard to deal with. I’ve lost family members to cancer- but I’ve also lost a best friend to it too. Jessica was only 16 when she lost her ongoing battle with cancer. She remained funny, upbeat, and strong throughout her battle never complaining about the pain she was obviously suffering with.
Jess’s death affected many people, she left behind two young brothers as well as her loving family and friends who loved her to pieces. It took me a long while to adjust to life without Jess, I could not (and still don’t) understand how someone could die so young.
Jess’s mum approached me and asked if I would run with her in the Race for Life in Jess’s memory. Through fundraising and sponsorship we have managed to raise over £400 for Jess. I felt like this small contribution helped me come to terms with the loss of Jess. No family should ever go through the trauma and heart break of losing their child, I felt by raising this money we may have helped to save another family from going the same thing.
How can you help?
You can support Race for Life is hundreds of ways! By sponsoring someone who is completing the race or even by taking part in the race yourself, the list is endless. A lot lots of shops have started to sell clothing items and accessories such as tee-shirts and mugs in which 50% of the profit will go toward cancer research.
Even doing something as simple as cheering on the runners on Sunday can help. Show your support, every cheer and every penny counts! As for me, I will be up nice and early on Sunday, cheering on my girls, running for the memory of Jess.
For more information please visit: www.raceforlife.org
Imagery by touchfiddlebreak Flickr.com
1 Comment – Post a comment
SwooshMe
Commented 20 months ago - 27th May 2010 - 11:23am
I think it's a brilliant thing you're doing. Jessica would be very proud. Good luck for Sunday! :o)