Take Macmillan’s 28,000 Step Challenge at the Lincolnshire Show
15 June 2016,
Macmillan is our Charity of the Year and will be helping with ticket-checking and also have a trade stand at the Lincolnshire Show.
At this year’s Lincolnshire Show, the Showground’s charity of the year Macmillan Cancer Support will be asking the public to join the ‘28,000 Step Challenge’ – a step for every person affected by cancer in Lincolnshire.
The Challenge aims to raise awareness of the benefits of physical activity for people who are diagnosed with cancer, during and after treatment. It is the brainchild of Macmillan physical activity practitioners Fiona Roche and Aaron Hall who will be leading the challenge on the 22nd and 23rd of June.
They will be attempting to take 28,000 steps around the showground whilst talking to people about staying active, as there is growing evidence that gentle exercise can help people recover from cancer more quickly and also alleviate some of the side effects of treatment.
The Macmillan ‘Get Active Feel Good Lincolnshire’ scheme, which is run by Fiona and Aaron in partnership with Lincolnshire Sport, aims to support people like Natasha Anastasiou from Welton, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma the day after her 17th birthday.
She had been studying for her A Levels when she started to feel tired and unwell, but had put it down to the stress of her exams. However when she noticed a lump on her collar bone she felt that something wasn’t right and was diagnosed a few weeks later.
Natasha struggled with severe side effects of the chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment. After the diagnosis she gained 8 stone in six months as a result of the steroids she was taking which in turn affected her confidence.
Natasha said: “After the diagnosis I went from a size 12 to a size 22. I’m tall too, so finding clothes to fit me was really hard. I was overweight and I felt tired all the time because I was overweight.
“I decided I was going to put myself in a bubble until it was finished. So when I was having the chemo I didn’t want to talk to anyone, I wouldn’t say a word. The steroids I was taking also made me feel very angry about nothing, little things like a door being left open would make me furious, so it was easier to just stay in my bubble.”
Natasha was put in touch with Macmillan nurse Helen Lythgoe at Lincoln County Hospital who helped her to understand her feelings.
“Helen reminds me that all of this is normal. My family are there for me but having someone to talk to who is separate and understands how I’m feeling and the symptoms I’m dealing with really helped.”
Macmillan Physical Activity Practitioner Aaron Hall said: “Cancer treatment can affect a person’s weight dramatically, resulting in them feeling under-confident and lethargic. We want to show that with small steps and a little bit of gentle exercise some of these symptoms can be alleviated. We’re not talking about running marathons, just setting small achievable goals.”
If you would like to join Fiona and Aaron on their 28,000 step challenge, you need to download a step counter on your phone, like the Macmillan ‘Get Active Feel Good Lincolnshire’ Facebook page and leave a comment detailing the number of steps you took during the Show. There will be prizes for the most steps taken and all participants will be entered into a prize draw to win £25 worth of Tesco vouchers.
To help Macmillan fund more health professionals like Helen, Fiona and Aaron in Lincolnshire contact the Fundraising Support Centre on 0300 1000 200 between 9am-5pm Monday-Friday, or emailfundraising@macmillan.org.uk
