28 years ago, Kim and Karen's mother passed away from secondary breast cancer. Almost three decades on, they're fundraising in her memory.
28 years ago, Kim and Karen's mother passed away from secondary breast cancer. Now, almost three decades on, they're fundraising in her memory.
Mum never let her cancer affect her
Breast cancer is something that has cast a dark shadow over our lives for the past 32 years.
In 1987, when I was six and Kim was three, our beautiful mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. We don't remember much about the diagnosis as we were so young. One thing that we do remember is how mum never let it get her down. She carried on every day with a smile on her face.
She was an inspiration
After her initial diagnosis, when she was just 28, mum had a single mastectomy, then chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Around one year after her treatment, she was doing so well, but then came the devastating news that she had secondary breast cancer.
Mum put on a brave face and carried on.
She threw herself into fundraising, fancy dress pub crawls and charity discos. She had so much support from her friends and family. We remember going to these events ourselves, although on the pub crawls we were only ever allowed to go to the first pub!
During mum’s fundraising years, we went with her and our dad to present cheques for the money that she raised to Hammersmith Hospital in London and also the QE Hospital in Birmingham. The last fundraising cheque she handed over was seven months before she died. She truly was an inspiration.
Her memory is still alive
Nothing can prepare you for when the day comes where you have to say goodbye.
It’s still feels like yesterday. I was 10 and Kim was seven. Kim was so brave, she went up with dad to give Mum a kiss and say goodbye.
The day of the funeral, I remember walking into the church and being amazed at how many people were there. She was loved by so many people.
It is so amazing to hear all of the wonderful memories that family and friends have of our mum. Her memory is still very much alive. Words that are commonly used to describe mum are 'strong,' 'kind,' and 'amazing.' She was all of those things and so much more.
The hardest times without mum are the anniversary of her death, birthdays and all family occasions. My wedding and the birth of her three granddaughters have been particularly hard - she would have been the most amazing nanny! If only she could have met mine and Kim’s partners too, she would have loved them.
We want to continue what mum started
Growing up without mum has been so hard, but our dad did an amazing job raising us. We have such a strong sister bond - we're always there for each other no matter what, and we talk about Mum all of the time.
We have grown up worrying that the same thing will happen to us, because mum was so young. As soon as we turned 30, we were referred for yearly MRI scans, and we check ourselves regularly.
Kim and I decided that we wanted to start fundraising in mum’s memory. Mum would have been 60 in July 2019 so we thought that would be a good time to start a fundraising project of our own, to continue what our amazing mum started. We decided to raise money for Breast Cancer Now and Coppafeel.
Fundraising has been emotional for us
We had so much support from our local community, friends and family. It was just fantastic. So many local businesses donated raffle prizes, a photographer offered his services to capture the event for free, and Kim’s work were extremely generous in donating £300 for each charity as well as a brand new iPad. Their support was phenomenal.
It took nine months of preparation, a few tears, a few hurdles (such as a last-minute cancellation for a bouncy castle which was quickly resolved!) but we got there.
The date of our first event was 13 July 2019, and it was amazing! I was so emotional, I spent most of the night crying and Kim was amazingly strong.
We had two singers, a photo booth, a bouncy castle, a pig roast, an auction and a raffle. We had been in contact with Breast Cancer Now regarding the event and they were so supportive, sending us balloons, decorations and pin badges to sell, too.
On the evening, Roz, one of our local Breast Cancer Now representatives, came along and gave a speech about Breast Cancer Now, where the money goes and some statistics too. She was so lovely, and it was great for her to take the time to come and support us.
Our first event was a huge success
We had set ourselves a target of £2,000 for the evening, but after the amazing support of our community, friends and family we completely smashed that target and raised £4,000. We could not believe it, we were completely speechless.
Once the event was over, we arranged with Breast Cancer Now to go down to their offices in London to present a cheque for the money that we had raised. It was another fantastic emotional moment for us. Everyone at Breast Cancer Now was so kind and genuinely interested in our story, looking through photos of our event and of our mum and listening to our stories about her.
Onwards and upwards
We are planning a skydive this year for Breast Cancer Now. We're excited but petrified at the same time! Some of our friends will be joining us too. It's something completely out of our comfort zone, we are hoping we will be able to raise lots of money.
We are planning our next fundraising evening for next summer - and we are hoping it will be even bigger than last year's. It will be 30 years since we lost mum, so it feels right to do another event then.
If you're considering fundraising for Breast Cancer Now, know that it's hard work, emotional and a bit stressful - but it's so worth it. The support you get from Breast Cancer Now is fantastic, and they are always on the end of an email or the phone if you need them.
We can’t wait to see where our fundraising adventure will take us, and look forward to our next planned events.
Join Karen and Kim and do some of your own fundraising by signing up to Team Now.