Jennifer’s magnificent year

Sometimes something happens in your life which is so momentous that it makes time stand still, and as if on a precipice you can either grab at life with two hands or fall.  So it was for me when my husband died of Prostate Cancer in 2002.  Among the many letters that I received was a poem which ended with the words "or you can do what he’d want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on".  At every moment of my panic, fright and despair, I kept remembering those words and realised how true they were.  How could I even contemplate anything other than grabbing life with both hands.  I had so much to be grateful for and with two sons who I now knew were more vulnerable than families without a history of prostate disease, it was obvious, I would channel all my energies into raising money and awareness of problems of the prostate.  As always my children were totally supportive of the idea little knowing what they were letting themselves in for.

A target was set which I knew would mean hard work, focus and faith to achieve but which I hoped would capture people's attention.  A £100,000 for Prostate Research Campaign UK in 2003.  A programme of events were produced, ten in all, which targeted different areas of the county and hopefully different interests.  1400 programmes were mailed in January 2003 with the hope that people would be alerted to my appeal and interested in one or possibly two of the events.

It has been an amazing year with highs and lows and the support and generosity that I have received from so many people has been a humbling experience.  If I had ever had any doubts about what I was trying to do they were soon dispelled by the interest, the correspondence, and the willingness to help.  We have had concerts, fashion shows, plant sales, gardens open, a hog roast, and a very successful golf day on one of the hottest days of the year.  My younger son Marcus ran the London Marathon and my surrogate daughter Fru, the Edinburgh Marathon.  My elder son Jeremy climbed Kilimanjaro with Roger Kirby and the rest of the fit fourteen.  His fiancée Alex did a Triathlon in Saipan, an Island between Hong Kong and Australia, and my daughter Emma produced food for most of the south west of England!

Now that my target has been reached and my mission has been accomplished my overriding memory of this year is the candlelit performance of Handel’s Messiah in Wells Cathedral on 12th December.  With a capacity audience, many of whom had been touched by Prostate Cancer, the sensitive performance of this sublime music, given by The Wells Cathedral Chamber Choir was described by some as a most moving experience.  For me it was a statement of hope for the future.  While I accept that it may be unusual for someone to embark on a mission such as this, the effort involved has been far outweighed by the benefits.  Prostate Research Campaign UK has benefited from the money and hopefully the publicity, the general public has benefited from the information which I have tried to give at every event and from a personal point of view it has given me the opportunity to rebuild my confidence and face the future in a way that I would never have believed was possible.