A woman with terminal cancer is fulfilling her final wish to fly to Australia, after generous donators helped her reach her fundraising target.
Kate Harding pleaded with the public earlier this year to help her raise enough cash for one last trip Down Under, so she could pay a visit to family and close friends she made there years ago while travelling on a gap year.
The 37-year-old went to work out there with her wife Saffy Sparkles in 2008 and was just four weeks into the trip when she was diagnosed with myxoid liposarcoma cancer, which she has now been told is terminal.
Kate and Saffy received stellar support from kind-hearted friends who looked after them as Kate underwent gruelling treatment, and it is Kate’s final wish for her to return there one last time to say spend time with them before she dies.
The pair fly out on Thursday (March 26), and Kate will document the trip with a series of photos and videos on a diary blog so all the people that helped he r surpass her £1,500 fundraising target can be a part of her experience.
She told The Chronicle: “I’m feeling excited, apprehensive and tired already from everything that we’re packing into the itinerary!
“The sponsorship from the fundraising including the raffle has been amazing - I‘m so humbled by it. Saffy my long-suffering wife, has worked tirelessly to get local companies to donate prizes for the raffle, and has marketed the sale of tickets well too.
“The raffle alone made more £150 which is amazing. I really want my blog to enable me to document the trip with diarised events, photos and videos to capture the memories, but as well as this, it also enables all the fantastic people who donated money to allow me to do such a trip to be part of it too.
“When I visit the hospital in Australia to say thanks to the medical staff and doctors who looked after me, I want the donators to see where I was treated, and by whom. It will document the memories in how far we have all come.
“I’d like people to use the hashtags #katesfinaloztrip and #katesfinalozwish in their posts and for the page to be shared as much as possible as I’d love it to go global.
“This is just my way of saying thanks to everyone for their generosity and kindness.”
Follow Kate’s blog at https:// www.facebook.com/katesfinalozwish
