Bed push in Pill gets underway!

 

 

 

CANCER sufferer Emma Marlton gave the starters whistle to a 170-mile bed push from Pill to Cornwall to raise money for the charities which have helped her.

Medics have given Emma - who has beaten cancer twice - just months to live after the disease returned and ravaged her body.

But rather than sit on her laurels, former pub landlady Emma, decided to do something positive with her last months and help organise the charity bed push  - door2door4thecure - from Pill to her former home town of Metherell in Cornwall.

A team of 20 family and friends - including husband Maff Derrick - will push the hospital bed to Cornwall over the next eight days, making stops at rugby clubs and camp sites along the Devon coast.

The group set off from the Kings Arms on Thursday, complete with a specially modified pink and purple hospital bed on bike wheels and a back up truck with picnic tables, garden umbrellas and supplies on it.

Emma had initially hoped to take part in the stunt - sitting on the bed for the journey - but is now too ill.

But she is planning to meet the fundraisers at various points along the route and hopes to take her place on the bed for the final leg of the journey from Saltash to Metherell.

Emma and Maff, who married last month, hope to raise around £5,000 for cancer charities.

Emma, 34, said: "The response to our appeal has been fantastic and we have been overwhelmed by the support we have received.

"We have already received around £4,000 in sponsorship and donations so are confident we will reach and even perhaps exceed our initial fundraising target."

The pair, who have been together two years, married last month and instead of wedding presents, asked for donations to charity.

Emma said: "We had a wonderful day and rather than presents we asked for money to boost our fundraising and everyone was very generous.

"We felt it was important to give something back to the charities which have helped me.

"I am living proof of how hard these charities work to look after cancer sufferers."

Maff has been joined by friend Paul 'Moggy' Moger, whose brother Nick, 57, is too battling cancer of the face and neck.

Nick, who used to live in Portishead, has undergone 17 different operations in the last year to remove the cancer.

Maff , 43, who is Emma's full time carer, said: "We are aiming to cover about 20 miles a day and are hoping people will be generous along the way."

Emma was diagnosed with melanoma of the face aged just of last summer and despite two operations and radiotherapy treatment, the cancer returned,

Further tests and scans and scans at Frenchay Hospital showed she has tumours in her pelvis, liver, kidneys, pancreas and in her stomach and chest.

Emma is now undergoing chemotherapy at Bristol Oncology Department in an attempt to shrink and stabilise her tumours and prolong her life.

She is also receiving care from the Pill District Nursing Team and nurses from St Peter's Hospice.

A website - www.door2door4thecure.com - complete with a just giving link has been set up for people to donate to the cause.