Gemma Louise Taylor-Smith shares with us why she ran 10k for Pseudomyxoma Survivor.
My mum, Jayne Taylor, was diagnosed with Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP) in 2008. She had MOAS ('mother of all surgeries' - complete cytoreduction and HIPEC) at Basingstoke Hospital and it was on a return visit for a minor op that she met Dawn Green, CEO and founder of Pseudomyxoma Survivor. Mum and Dawn have since become good friends.
We wanted to do something to help Dawn raise money and awareness of PMP so we thought this 10k run would be a good opportunity. It's through my work place, a bakery called Luke Evans in Riddings, Derbyshire founded in 1804. They like to raise money for a different charity every year and agreed to do it this year for Pseudomyxoma Survivor.
The 10k trail run took place at Sherwood Pines in Nottinghamshire. There were six of us took part in the race including myself, my husband and my mum's partner, Peter. The day went really well with good weather and we all managed to finish the race and ended the day with beer and a bbq.
We are still not sure on the total money raised yet but we will keep you updated.
Are you taking part in an event to raise money for Pseudomyxoma Survivor? Contact us with the details.
One of the most significant contributors to that sum was my parents. My mum in particular felt that she was to blame for my illness (clearly she was not) and felt hopeless that she could do little to help. She decided to organise a tea party to raise funds and she threw heart and soul into the event spending many weeks sending out flyers to friends and family, hand making some cards to sell at the event, running several sweepstakes and collecting raffle prizes. On the 23rd June 2012 the awful English weather shined and the tea party took place in my parents' garden with the whole family helping out, either washing up, serving cakes, selling cards and raffle tickets and making tea and coffee. There was a great turn out of people during the course of the 2 hours and in total (with donations coming in through the post from those who could not attend) we raised just over £1400.
