A pair of courageous fundraisers have raised thousands of pounds for a local hospice, despite one of them facing an incurable cancer diagnosis.
Burntwood mum Vicky Rogers and her friend Jen Seager have raised more than £4,500 for St Giles Hospice, through everything from a skydive to a pub crawl.
The pair, who met at their daughters’ swimming lessons ten years ago, decided to start their fundraising challenge when Vicky was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 aged 42.
Vicky discovered a lump in her breast which was malignant and had surgery as well as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but the cancer returned some time later and doctors told Vicky it was incurable.
Vicky said the charity challenges were an opportunity to do something positive at a difficult time for her and her family and friends.
“Getting involved in the different events and fundraising gave us all a focus and throughout the last few years has been a brilliant way of bringing people together and making memories,” said Vicky.
“Initially I wanted to help St Giles because it was a great local charity but since my diagnosis I’ve seen the support they offer firsthand.
“The St Giles team help with pain management support, as well as complementary therapies and have offered family counselling for me, my husband and my daughters should we want it.”
For Jen, the series of events in support of St Giles have been part of making life as positive as possible in difficult circumstances.
“Vicky has always had a really positive outlook and while we all felt that life was incredibly unfair, if that was the way things were we were going to live in the here and now and celebrate life,” she said.
“I think it was a sense of we can’t change the situation Vicky is in, but we could make a difference in supporting a local charity to help them care for other people.
“We decided to do the fun stuff – whether it was taking part in a run wearing a bright pink bra and pants over our running gear or jumping out of an aeroplane for the skydive.
“We brought family and friends together for a garden party, with a bouncy castle and throw a sponge and finished off earlier this year with a pub crawl through the heart of Burntwood.”
In total the best friends have raised £4,600 for the hospice, a sum which community fundraiser Cal Harris said is absolutely phenomenal.
“Vicky and Jen are truly inspirational and have done an amazing job of fundraising for us while facing so many personal challenges themselves,” she said.
“The amount they have raised is fantastic but I think the number of people they have inspired along the way is even more amazing!”