Josie from Llandudno is proving a runaway success for the Series. Here she outlines why she is taking part and raising money for the East Surrey Neo-natal Unit. Josie – you’re definitely a winner in our eyes. She says:
When I came across the GB Active Challenges supporting the NHS back in May I decided to take part as over the last eight months the NHS have been there for my family massively and I wanted to give something back to them in some way. As I’m a big runner I decided to use this by taking on the monthly challenges and raise funds for charity.
Back in January my husband was diagnosed suddenly with malignant melanoma and the NHS were magnificent in the treatment and care of him especially at St Helen’s Hospital and Whiston Hospital. We will be forever grateful for the urgency they treated him as this was paramount for his prognosis and especially as this was all during COVID.
They now continue with his aftercare once again with the same urgency, care and support. The whole NHS Team in my eyes are true angels and without them things would have been very different. Then back in June my daughter gave birth to my beautiful granddaughter Ava Bree seven weeks premature and once again the NHS supported and cared for my daughter Nikki, Dan and their precious new baby and I will once again be eternally grateful to the East Surrey Special Care neonatal unit. So I decided to raise funds for the charity SASH special care neonatal unit by using the GB Active Challenges as a platform for running 350 miles from June to October 3rd finishing with the London Marathon. The challenges have kept me motivated and I’ve also enrolled my little boy of seven to do a challenge of 25 miles as he loves to run too and we can do it together with a bonus of a gift box and medal at the end.
So as a family the GB Active Series has become a big part of our lives over the months with even my husband walking with us whilst he was recovering from one of his surgeries. So thank you GB Active and also your sponsors as now my little boy and I wear our matching Buffs whilst running with our matching water bottles and also loving the bars! Well who wouldn’t ? Even my husband feels included with the coffee as he’s a massive coffee fan and during recuperating his coffee intake has definitely increased!
So Thank You GB Active Series: You have become a big part of our daily life whilst allowing me to do what I love to do raise funds for charity and give back something to our Amazing NHS.