To be honest, this is the bit I have been struggling to write for this website as I didn’t want it too sound too gushy or too arrogant as for my reasons for doing this hiking challenge.
I will never forget losing my father to Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and slowly seeing him fade from and very assured and proud man to someone quite frail over time. Those were hard times for us all, but especially my mother who cared for him on a daily basis right to the end. I will also always remember him saying “It’s sad to get old, but it’s even sadder not to get there”. A very profound statement I’m sure you will agree.
I always enjoyed travelling when I was younger and spent a long time backpacking through Australia and New Zealand and then across the Pacific to Mexico, USA and Canada. There were many other places that fascinated me then and still now but personal circumstances dictated that those plans to go and see such places had to be shelved until I was older and had less responsibility to others in my life.
As some of you are aware, my personal circumstances have now changed and I now have the opportunity to give something back to a worthwhile cause that may just help someone else deal with the trauma of suffering from cancer. It has been suggested by some folks that I am doing this for a “free” holiday, but I have also been overwhelmed by the majority of well wishers who have encouraged me and given me a donation or at least the promise of a donation to follow.
Mostly though, I am so very grateful to those people helping behind the scenes doing all sorts of stuff that I could not hope to do all by myself. They are doing this because they feel that it is something worthwhile to support even though they are gaining nothing personally from their input.
The training so far has been hard and the fund raising harder still, badgering people for money is not something that comes naturally to most people, myself included. I am trying to do it in such a way though that people will get a little bit of fun out of it too (probably at my expense though).
I do hope that you find the time to have a look through this site and come back regularly to see how things are progressing with regards the events and the fund raising efforts.
Thanks for looking
Duncan
