Our Challenge, Why Do It?

15 years ago in March I started school. There was a little boy who was so scared on our first day that he cried and was allowed to sit on the teacher's chair.

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9 years ago I spent a year with the best group of table buddies a girl could ask for in her last year of primary school. We had so much fun in all our lessons, it's a year I still remember. One boy was cheeky, the girls were all bossy, the rest of the boys just helped out, we were the top table.

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4 years ago in September the cheeky, nervous boy who I have such fond memories of and made such an impact on my years growing up died. It was only two weeks after his 15th Birthday, and he was a great friend to everyone. We all still miss him.

He died of melanoma.

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The type of melanoma that he had was rare, which meant it couldn't be treated effectively, because there wasn't the funding to do a lot of research into it. Last year my friend Clarissa and I decided to try and do something to help. We can't do the research, but we can fund-raise so that others can. 

We decided to read 52 books in a year, this in itself isn't necessarily a challenge. What is a challenge is that we pre-determined the list, put ourselves outside our normal comfort zones, and some of these books I have really struggled with. It's helped to have support from my family, but yesterday was half way through the year and so far we've raised only £5 of our £300 target.

For those who don't know Melanoma is a type of cancer, specifically skin cancer. It could affect anyone, it tends to be caused by exposure to sun, and we live in a culture which likes to over-expose. 

I'd like to ask that you take the time to visit our Joint Blog, or maybe our  Donations Page. Spread the word, and tell us about your own experiences with cancer or the books we're reading.

Sorry for a post a little different than my normal. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

Don't forget to take care in the sun this summer.

Rowen