A member of the executive team at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) is stepping out of her comfort zone and into her walking boots for a good cause.
Director of Operations at Colchester Hospital Alison Power is used to dealing with challenges and keeping the hospital running, but she’s going to swap that for something completely different in April.
Along with her partner, Richard Stace, Alison will be trekking the GR221 Drystone Route along the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range in Mallorca to raise money for the Cancer Centre Campaign.
The £3.25million fundraising drive, run by Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals Charity, was launched in 2014 with the aim of building a new cancer centre at Colchester Hospital where patients and their loved ones can be supported and cared for throughout their cancer journey.
The Collingwood Centre will bring chemotherapy, haematology and radiotherapy under one roof, and will be complimented by a new wellbeing centre that will provide complementary therapies, counselling, advice and support.
Alison, 51, starts the 140km hike on 24 April and she will have someone special on her mind throughout.
She lost her mum, Joan Poole, to cancer in 2003. After being diagnosed with breast cancer at 49, Joan was cared for at Ipswich Hospital before she died from bowel cancer aged 55.
Alison said:
When I think about the access to services my Mum had 15 years ago and what we are doing here at the hospital now, it’s just the right thing to do in her memory. I think it’s made it a bit more real in terms of the age I am and what I’d want if that happened to me
I’ve never done anything like this before, but it’s an area we really love so we just thought we would combine something we wanted to do with some meaning to it. It’s a personal challenge and something that’s really important to us and I hope people will support us on our first ever trek for cancer.
Training has taken Alison, Richard and their dog Cookie along the flat routes surrounding the rivers Stour and Orwell, as well as the Suffolk Coastal Path, but now the more undulating terrain of the Serra de Tramuntana mountains beckons.
She said:
I’m apprehensive, but I’m looking forward to it. I know I can do the walk, what I don’t know is how I’ll manage to do it every single day, it’s a mental challenge too.
To support Alison, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/alisonpower-esneft
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