Helen Louisa's 100 mile quest

Fellow blogger and fundraiser Helen Louisa first contacted Leukaemia CARE about a year ago to recycle stamps at her workplace The London School of Economics. She has now set herself a much bigger challenge. She says:

In May 2008, I said I would run 100 miles (160KM) in organised races over the next year, ending with the FLORA LONDON MARATHON 2009 to raise money for the fantastic charity Leukaemia CARE.

I am not built like a runner and the longest distance I've ever run was 10K in 2005, but I do love a good challenge and this sure beats watching TV all day!

You can sponsor her at http://www.justgiving.com/helenlouisajordan or you can visit her blog http://www.helen-louisa.blogspot.com/

You can read about her recent runs (the Dulwich 5k, Blackheath 5k, Vision 5k Hackney, Beckenham Trail 10k) and her training on her blog. With another 84.5 miles still to clock up we're all wishing you the very best of luck Helen! As someone who ran my first 5k last month I'm absolutely amazed by that kind of commitment: Go Helen! Let us know how you get on ok?

Well done Helen for passing the quarter way stage of your 100 mile quest. Have a look at Helen's blog to see the latest photos.

For help information or support with a leukaemia, lymphoma or a myeloma call 0800 169 6680 or visit www.leukaemiacare.org.uk

Here is a story from our fundraiser Linda Rowe and her team of sailors Malcolm, Liz, Rod, Paul, Helen and Mark.

Greenwich to Edinburgh Sailathon 2008

21st June - Left Hoo with strong winds expected
23rd June – We made our way across River Thames. Sea lions came to see us off Grimsby and puffins along the coast.
27th June - Left Whitby at 20.30 hours to Blyth. Arrived at Eyemouth 15.00 hours. After 12 hours we arrived at Port Edgar. We looked around Queensferry. Saw real Scotsman, kilts and bagpipes playing in Princess Street, Edinburgh City Centre.
1st July - Set off back to Eyemouth at 13.45 hours where we meet Eve Martin from Leukaemia CARE. Enjoying the nice weather unfortunately it didn’t last. Eve wasn't enjoying it. Helen reiterated, “I told you, it never stays nice, always rough, always raining, always cold! Do I have a jumper on? No, I have all my jumpers on! ” and the ranting continues. The sea built up and waves became uncomfortable. We finally arrived at Eyemouth 21.00 hours.
2nd July – Arranged for Eve to climb the mask as her sponsorship task unfolds. ‘The men slowly heaved at the rope and she began her assent. Gulping noises could be heard as she slowly went up higher …. and higher … and higher still. Finally she reached the top to cheers of jubilation from the crowd that had gathered. She had succeeded in her quest to raise funds for the charity; now she could come down.’
3rd July - Left Eyemouth at 04.00 hours feeling unwell as we reached Sunderland so we pulled up for the night.
4th July – Left Sunderland at 07.00 hours to leave Grimsby. Decided not to leave due to bad weather.
11th July – Everyone is feeling wet and cold. We turned the boat back to the Humber and headed for Grimsby. It looks like were not getting the boats back home this weekend.
13 July – Up and away by 04.00 hours. The weather changed we had sunshine but it was a very long day. Arrived at Lowerstoft at 21.30 hours.
15th July – Left Lowerstoft at 05.00 hours for Harwich. The sea was lumpy so we decided to go to Brighlingsea rather than stopping at Harwich. One day to go!
16th July - Left at 04.15 hours and the wind was in the right direction so we were able to sail all the way back to Medway. Finally arrived at Hoo 10.45 hours.

Our three boats raised over £5000 for Leukaemia CARE. Mark returned St Jarna II to its berth in Chatham the following weekend.

For help information or support with a leukaemia, lymphoma or a myeloma call 0800 169 6680 or visit www.leukaemiacare.org.uk

Introducing Leukaemia CARE's blogger

Hello there fundraisers!
I thought I should introduce myself as I'm your resident blogger. My name's Gemma and I'm the PR & Marketing Officer here at Leukaemia CARE. I'm in a few of these pictures below but now as we're starting to hear a bit more from you hopefully you'll see less of me..! That said you'll still hear from me! I studied Spanish at the University of Birmingham and went on to work in Marketing. I live in Birmingham with my husband and our cat and earlier in the month I ran my first race for Leukaemia CARE... eek!
I'm not a runner, never have been, hated school PE lessons, but I must admit I got a great deal from this event and I'd recommend it to anyone. You can also have a lot of fun fund raising. It's no fun just asking for money but a friend of mine is a big fan of house parties and is struggling to raise her sponsorship monies for the Great North Run so she's planning a fancy dress hallow'een party where everyone pays to dress up. Pub quizzes, car washes, sleep overs, dress down and cake sales are staples of the fundraiser's itinerary but loads more can be found at www.raise4leukaemia.org.uk
Our other blogger here is Jen who started as our apprentice and is now our administrative assistant. You'll start to hear from her soon. So I hope we'll get to know each other as time goes by; until then bye bye from all at Leukaemia CARE
Gemma

For help information or support with a leukaemia, lymphoma or a myeloma call 0800 169 6680 or visit www.leukaemiacare.org.uk

Countdown to the Santathon 2008

We now have 4 venues agreed for the 2008 Santathon (previously, the Christmas Fun Run)

• Dagenham & Redbridge FC
• Worcester City FC
• Evesham
• Newcastle University
  

Thanks to everyone who's involved in organising these events; they're some of the most important of our calendar! This year the big event will take place at all 4 venues on Sunday 7th December. More info can be found on our website.
Why not watch our video?!

Leukaemia CARE Santathon: Stroll it... Walk it... Run it!

Why Douglas Swam

An email from a cherished supporter, Mr Douglas Osborne, received on the 10th September, in memory of his beloved sister in law Frances Spall.

Douglas swam the English Channel to raise money for Leukaemia CARE, with Frances' name printed on his swimsuit. He asked us to print their story in our magazine for Frances to read but unfortunatly his sister-in-law passed away before we were able to. Our most sincere thoughts go out to the Spall family and our very best wishes and sincere thanks go to Douglas for his huge fundraising achievements.

I was sitting on the bed of my sister-in-law who was dying of cancer, stroking her hand. My mobile rang, I was told its time to swim the channel to france. She was fading, I kissed her head and said "I will see you tomorow! I have to swim the channel now, for you." We exchanged glances and smiled, I set of from her home in Guildford to my home, grabbed my things and headed to Dover. I set off about 4am ish in the dark of night. Around 08:40 whilst I was swimming she died, I pictured her in my mind whilst swimming, no way would I stop. I had this 1 chance to do this for her, after several hrs I could not picture on the bed fading anymore. I could only see her smiling like she always did with her grin and big brown eyes. I knew she would not make it into Tuesday. She died whilst I swam :-(I did not know till after I finished. Even though they knew on the boat, they just kept encouraging me. This swim has taken me 2yrs to become equipped and ready, but the hardest part is mental strength; that part I learned from Frances, she never once gave up hope, and when she knew she was going to die, she hid it from her kids as long as possible never complaining, always effervescent. I hope to God I meet another Frances Spall, and we become friends. every one needs someone like that.

To sponsor Douglas after his massive swim visit: dougie osborne's just giving website (http://www.justgiving.com/jellyfish)
To sponsor Douglas for any of his many runs visit: dougie runs
(http://www.justgiving.com/dougieruns)
or his raceforlife site (http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/helenshreeve)














For help information or support with a leukaemia, lymphoma or a myeloma call 0800 169 6680 or visit www.leukaemiacare.org.uk

Adidas Women's Challenge

Thank you to everyone who took part for Leukaemia CARE, whether you simply ran and donated your entry money or actively fundraised! Remember to send us your stories and photos for us to publish here or in Inspire









Leukaemia CARE's marketing officer Gemma ran the Adidas Women's challenge in Birmingham - she said: "It was a brilliant atmosphere and we were pretty lucky as the rain held off until I was over half way; by then it just made me want to get back extra fast! I just ran as much as I could and did it in 39 minutes - not bad for a first attempt! I'd recommend it as an event for anyone like me who doesn't do much running. I had a great time!"
Click here for OFFICIAL PHOTOS













For help information or support with a leukaemia, lymphoma or a myeloma call 0800 169 6680 or visit www.leukaemiacare.org.uk