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IAN'S WALK FOR WENDY

Our bass member Ian Harmer succeeded triumphantly in his goal of walking 14 miles for charity on Sunday March 27.   The walk was for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and was in memory of Ian's wife Wendy, who died of breast cancer in November 2008.

 

Wendy was a patient at the Royal Marsden for four years after the cancer was diagnosed.  Ian says the walk was "a way of trying to say ‘thank you’ to them for the four years they managed to give us together”.

Ian and Wendy's daughter Sarah display their medals at the finish

Ian admits that he found the walk far harder than he had expected.  "The last four miles were a real struggle, mainly as I had developed large fluid blisters on the soles and toes of my feet which had burst!  Hence, today I can barely walk.  But that is nothing compared to what my beautiful Wend went through during her four-year fight against cancer."

Iain's right foot the day after the walk

Ian undertook the walk with Wendy's daughter Sarah, who attended the CMVC's Sanderstead concert with Ian on March 26.  Together they and a team called "Wendy's Walkers" raised £2500 for the Royal Marsden's charity fund.

The walk began at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea and finished at its counterpart in Sutton. Ian is especially grateful to the choir members who sponsored his walk.

Ian, tired but triumphant at the finish, with Pete Smith

Fellow bass member Pete Smith greeted Ian at the Sutton finishing line.  Pete took part in a four-day cycle ride to Paris last year, also in support of the Royal Marsden's charity.

The photograph (above)  shows Ian with Wendy and daughter Sarah in April 2008, seven months before Wendy died. The occasion was the London Marathon, when Sarah was running for the Royal Marsden, and Wendy and Ian were there together to cheer her on.  

You can visit the Wendy’s Walkers website:  www.justgiving.com/wends-walkers