the bigmoose ultra fun run 2027 has landed. walk it, run it, take on your own distance and be part of something bigger. every mile helps fund life-changing mental health support.
find out more the bigmoose ultra fun run 2027 has landed. walk it, run it, take on your own distance and be part of something bigger. every mile helps fund life-changing mental health support.
find out more
good morning bigmoose blog reader,
this blog is so random.
i stirred my coffee in the metal cafetière, and the aroma hit one of my five senses.
what shall i write about today?
i have no idea.
emily.
wow, where did that come from?
i literally have no idea.
so here’s some context.
time machine back to 2014 please.
imagine that.
surely we’ve gotta crack time travel soon haven’t we?
that’s gonna be fun, i hope i’m here for it.
so, we’re back in 2014.
i’m 50 years old, going to climb everest and going to raise £50,000 for teenage cancer trust.
part of my fundraising effort was an event that we, me, chloe and peter pedro my right hand creative genius, had dreamt up.
an abseil from newport transporter bridge, which we creatively named “the dangle”.
this is pre bigmoose by the way.
the premise of the dangle was to encourage a gang of friends to abseil off the bridge and fundraise a load of dollar for tct.
and it worked.
we built it, and they came.
raising £42k in the process.
but here’s the thing.
i had been to the hospital where the children with cancer had their own part of the hospital.
and it was humbling, motivating, emotional, literally all the feels, but wonderfully inspirational, meeting these teenagers who had been dealt the worst hand of cards, ever.
some would recover and be cancer survivors for the rest of their lives, and some wouldn’t make it, and i didn’t know which ones, but i knew some were going to die, it was extremely emotional.
but drove me to raise the much needed funds to run the charity.
the morning of the dangle was beautiful, with a wonderful sunrise creeping up over the river the bridge spanned.
i had done the dangle the day before, to test the ropes that our amazing team, led by my accountant gary parker, a mountain guide with skills unusual for an accountant, had set up, and i knew the views our fundraisers were going to see.
incredible.
the first danglers arrived, nervous, some petrified once they saw the size of the bridge, but every single person completed their dangle, testament to the professional team that gary had at every point on the bridge.
as i watched the day unfold, with everybody at the event shouting encouragement to those that dangled, clapping and cheering, the love and energy was beautiful to watch.
then she appeared.
a very petite girl, elfin, and wrapped up in a duffle coat with a scarf and wooly hat.
“i’m emily” she said, “and my friend is doing the dangle, because i can’t”
no words were needed.
and a search through my pictures this morning showed a pic of that moment.
chloe and i warmed to emily, and her lovely family, and through our bigmoose evolution became quite close.
but after a very tough battle we lost emily, and the church was overflowing as she was laid to rest.
so young.
so we assembled a group of people to raise money for a charity dear to emily’s heart, and did our first bigmoose branded cardiff half shirt, with ‘running for emily’ on the arm, and chloe and i ran together.
so this morning i remembered emily, and one thing she said to us before she left for heaven.
she said that the cancer had caused some people to avoid her, literally cross the road to avoid her.
she said that people struggled with what to say.
what to say about the cancer.
and i understand.
i have it with parkinsons.
i have lost people along this journey, and it hurts.
but i get it.
people struggle with how they cope.
what do they say.
do they approach the subject or avoid it.
it’s awkward.
but don’t run away from it.
if you know someone, that maybe you’ve been a little distant with them, just ask them what they want from you.
do they want to discuss the cancer, the diagnosis, their loss of a loved one, their kidney operation?
just ask.
and listen.
and they will love you more for it.
and as in emily’s case they won’t have the additional emotional burden to carry around as well as the cancer.
rest in peace sweet emily, i’m glad i met you.
thanks for reading, and maybe call that person in your life that would love to hear from you, the impact could be massive.
blue skies,
jeff
p.s. as i write this i have just received a text from our team that a girl has signed up to ride a bike in our november project £1 million 3.0, and she has graduated through our bigmoose system, and we saved her life, how fricking cool, i love my life!
c
