The Cancer Patients Were Totally ‘Bossing It’!
By Ann McBrien
Apr 15, 2025
HADRIAN’S WALL – 84 MILES – COAST TO COAST (AGED 9!)
Our 9-year-old daughters Sophie and Jessica love hiking with us and have now completed the National 3 peaks, the Yorkshire 3 Peaks and Welsh 3 Peaks – all within the challenge times. As parents last year we completed Rat Race ‘The Wall’ which is 70 miles of running along Hadrian’s Wall. The girls have now decided they also want to complete it but they want to do the whole 84 miles coast to coast over 4 days!
They started fundraising on their 4th birthday during covid and have continued to fundraise ever since. By their 8th birthday they had raised a total of £10,277 for a variety of charities.
Our very good friend Cheryl is a shining example of the power of movement during a cancer journey. She had a mastectomy and all the treatment to get through breast cancer and out the other side. She trains with us as my husband Jay is a fitness instructor. One of the important things to her during treatment was as much normality as possible and she wondered if she could continue to exercise. Everything we believed in and supported her with chimes exactly what your charity promotes and it couldn’t be a better match for us all than to raise money for MOVE Against Cancer and 5k Your Way.
Cheryl and I ran a parkrun with the girls and they were asking lots of questions. It was amazing that it was building awareness in the young and that they want to raise money, encourage other young people to move more and help those in need through cancer.
Starting on Sunday 24 May Cheryl, Jay, Sophie, Jessica and I are walking Hadrian’s Wall. Sophie and Jessica really are fabulous walkers and were just 7 when they did the N3P in 24 hours. I feel mentally this is going to be much tougher – getting up 4 days in a row to complete over 20 miles a day – but I know they can do this!
We recently met mountaineer Nigel Vardy. He lost his fingers, toes and nose on an expedition in Alaska years ago but he’s an inspiration and has carried on with incredible expeditions. He was really impressed with what the girls have achieved and their fundraising. He gave them some top tips on completing multiple day hikes and the girls asked him some fabulous questions which really gave them a boost of motivation to attack their 84-mile challenge.
Through this challenge we would like to promote MOVE Against Cancer, raise funds, wear the t-shirts and give a massive shout out for what you all do. We are local to Nottingham and love the fact that the first 5k Your Way group started here, that the charity is still small but growing and that we can see how the fundraising can help others. Sophie is also doing her own little bit extra for charity, by cutting her hair to make a wig for the Little Princess Trust the week before we do Hadrian’s Wall. We are combining this with a fundraising bric a brac and all proceeds will also come to MOVE. Looking forward to a cracking day … and then an incredible walking challenge!
If you would like to donate please visit our page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/sophieandjessica-wright-10?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL
