St Teresa's Hospice in Darlington is a very special place and somewhere that is held very close in our hearts. 

Our mum, wife, mum in law, grandma and friend Judith first went to St T's after she was told the tumour she had was inoperable and she was to begin palliative chemotherapy. At the time we didn't really know what this meant or how much time we would have left to spend together. 

Mum had first been diagnosed with bowel cancer 6 years ago and had undergone a number of different operations removing tumours which grew, then grew back each time causing more and more consequences for her. She had major and highly specialised complex surgery in February 2011 in Leeds and we thought that would be it, she'd finally be rid. But it wasn't to be. It came back and this time, there was nothing they could do but try to give her quality of life. 

Mum was introduced to St Teresa's by her GP and began to attend day therapy while she was on chemo. It made a huge difference to how she was able to handle what was happening to her. She met friends- staff and fellow patients all of whom helped her to talk about her feelings and deal with the future. Mum had counselling, massage, had her hair and nails done (something she never ever did for herself!) and she had a giggle over the odd gin and tonic! She loved the special themed days when the primary school teacher in her came out finding every item in the house she could to dress up appropriately!! Beach day was the best!

When mum got really poorly and we were told the chemo was no longer effective, mum transferred from hospital to St T's and spent a week in their Specialist palliative care unit. She was still fighting and we visited her day and night. The staff and volunteers were amazing and so caring. I cannot imagine us getting through that incredibly difficult time without their support, compassion and expertise. 

Mum decided she wanted to be at home and so left St T's for the last time at the end of October 2012 and she sadly lost her battle with this horrific disease on 15 November the following month. 

We will never forget the people who helped her and continue to help people with life limiting illnesses every day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year. 

It costs 4.4 million pounds to run the hospice. 1/3 is funded by NHS and government and they have to raise the rest themselves. 

It costs £24 per hour to look after someone in the palliative care unit and a similar amount a day for someone to attend day therapy. 

All in all it costs £4 a minute to do all they need to do to help people and their families during the hardest time of their lives. 

We will never forget what they did and we want to help by giving something back. 

16 challenges, one year, help us raise £10,000! 

 

Thank you x

 

Yey thank you so much Judith Moffatt! Your donation will make such a massive difference! X

Thanks so much Adrian Clarke for your kind donation...means a lot! So far we've raised £160 for @stteresas. Thank you all. Long way to go but great team on board training for lots of different events!

Thanks so much Adrian Clarke for your kind donation...means a lot! So far we've raised £160 for @stteresas. Thank you all. Long way to go but great team on board training for lots of different events!

Thanks so much for your kind donation Mr Clarke! Do you fancy doing a challenge or two?

Thank you so much Helen Duffy for supporting makeithappen13 means so very much to us and many more xxx

Thank you so very much to anonymous donator. We really really appreciate it. Makes us more motivated to train harder and succeed!

Updated on Jan 19th 2013 at 7:58 PM from the JustGiving API

Thank you so much to ailsa and Jonathan hall for their generous donation to makeithappen13! We are now only £10 away from our first £100! That's £100 more to @stteresas than they had before! Thank you.

Updated on Jan 8th 2013 at 9:27 PM from the JustGiving API

We have very special friends!! £70 raised so far for @makeithappen_13 can't believe it!! Thank you so so much!!!

Updated on Jan 5th 2013 at 9:23 AM from the JustGiving API

Oh my goodness we've started to get sponsorship! Thank you so much to tony, ellie and Sophie for your pledges- so chuffed and so determined! Come on everyone please like our page make it happen 2013 and follow us on twitter @makeithappen_13 help us raise £10,000 for St Teresa's hospice in Darlington

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Thank you so so much to David & Julia Watson! Incredible overwhelming generosity supporting James & Katherine Runciman and the Makeithappen_13 team!!

Thank you so much to the Old family! Supporting John Moffatt and Make it Happen 2013 doing coast to coast bike ride next week for St Teresa's Hospice in Darlington. We are so so happy for your donation! Thank you!!!

Thank you so much for your donation Elizabeth! Means so much xx

Thank you so much Sarah for your very generous donation! We're all thinking about you and wishing you a successful op and recovery...lots of love xx