Welcome to the home of Peaches Womb Cancer Trust! My name is Dr Helen Clarke and it is my privilege to write the first blog post and I’m thrilled to report it’s about our first success.

Earlier this year I was approached by my colleagues, Dr Eleanor Jones and Dr Chloe Barr, about an idea they’d had to start up a charity dedicated to endometrial (womb) cancer following some incredibly generous donations offered to Professor Crosbie to further her research.  Unfortunately, these donations could not be accepted and the donors were disappointed that the funds could not be protected for endometrial research, but instead were kindly offered to the University of Manchester with whom Professor Crosbie has her chair. In light of this, we felt there was a significant gap in the charitable sector for one dedicated to womb cancer…and so Peaches was conceived!

Then Covid-19 happened…

Our cancer research understandably stalled, I was recalled to clinical service and paused my PhD research and progress with Peaches had to halt temporarily.  

Earlier in the year, in the attempt to get fit for the eventing season ahead (I am lucky enough to have a wonderful horse, Jack, with whom I compete) I decided to join the local running club’s couch to 5K group and began to learn to run…as an aside, the best £10 I have invested in a long time joining Northwich Running Club!  My new “running” buddies and I worked through the 9-week NHS programme with the support of the coaches and suddenly we had gone from worrying about a 90 second run to running for a complete 20 minutes! Sadly, covid disbanded our merry team of runners and we continued under our own steam, supporting each other via training apps and social media.  All competitive sport was cancelled…both running and equestrian.

As the running bug set in, I decided I would aim for the Manchester 10K in May and what better way to ensure I got there…raise some money for Peaches!  I steadily built myself up from running 5K to 10K and determined still to run the “race”, set myself a target of completing 10K locally on 31^st May 2020. 

I set up a JustGiving page for Peaches and once word got around, generosity got the better of everyone and my initial target of £200 was smashed within 4 hours! You may recall May was blessed with beautiful sunny days and on that Sunday, temperatures soared towards 30 degrees.  In the evening, as I set out for my run with my support “team” (my husband on his mountain bike) I had raised over £900 and by the time I’d got home it was over £1000! In the days following, more donations poured in and my final total was a staggering £1155!!

I couldn’t be more humbled and grateful for the generosity shown by friends, family, colleagues and complete strangers who, during a global pandemic which has had its own unique challenges for us all, chose to donate money to our cause.

I cannot thank you all enough. Your donations will change lives.

Thank you from all of us at Team Peaches!