Carer Support South Lakes

Great North Run

Rebecca Smith

Rebecca Smith

My Story

Nearly 8 years ago now my Dad was diagnosed with cancer and given weeks to live.  It came straight out of the blue, and was a really difficult situation for all the family to deal with.

My sister and I moved in with my Dad to look after him, with Vicki putting her own life on hold to be his full time carer, while I carried on working.  Her entire life stopped, for just over a year and half, until Dad sadly passed away. 

More recently, my 80 year old Mum broke her arm in 3 places.  She already had mobility issues and struggled with her knees, so with a broken arm as well she was unable to anything for herself.  So this time I put my life on hold to move in and look after her. 

In both of these situations my sister and I willingly and lovingly stepped in to look after our parents, however we still both found it incredibly difficult.  We were lucky though, as we were able to work the caring around our other responsibilities, work, kids etc, we had each other to lean on, and as adults were in a good position to process what was happening. 

For many people though this isn't the case - many carers are just children themselves, or aren't able to keep money coming in, some don't have support around from other family, or provide care for much much longer than we did, and many other challenges that add to an already difficult situation. 

Those are the people that I am running for, the people that rely on the support provided by Carer Support South Lakes.  The support that they provide is a life line for so many carers in the South Lakes area, and I'm so glad that I can do something, however big or small, to help improve things and make a difference to carers lives. 

Carer Support South Lakes

Raising for:

Carer Support South Lakes
140%

Funded

  • Target
    £1,500
  • Raised so far
    £2,102
  • Number of donors
    43

My Story

Nearly 8 years ago now my Dad was diagnosed with cancer and given weeks to live.  It came straight out of the blue, and was a really difficult situation for all the family to deal with.

My sister and I moved in with my Dad to look after him, with Vicki putting her own life on hold to be his full time carer, while I carried on working.  Her entire life stopped, for just over a year and half, until Dad sadly passed away. 

More recently, my 80 year old Mum broke her arm in 3 places.  She already had mobility issues and struggled with her knees, so with a broken arm as well she was unable to anything for herself.  So this time I put my life on hold to move in and look after her. 

In both of these situations my sister and I willingly and lovingly stepped in to look after our parents, however we still both found it incredibly difficult.  We were lucky though, as we were able to work the caring around our other responsibilities, work, kids etc, we had each other to lean on, and as adults were in a good position to process what was happening. 

For many people though this isn't the case - many carers are just children themselves, or aren't able to keep money coming in, some don't have support around from other family, or provide care for much much longer than we did, and many other challenges that add to an already difficult situation. 

Those are the people that I am running for, the people that rely on the support provided by Carer Support South Lakes.  The support that they provide is a life line for so many carers in the South Lakes area, and I'm so glad that I can do something, however big or small, to help improve things and make a difference to carers lives.