What started as a “mad idea” between a mother and daughter became a 208-mile journey honouring two very close friends. From 2nd to 16th May, Demi, aged 33, and her mum, Julie aged 49, walked from Coalville to Bournemouth Pier in memory of friends Kate and George. Originally planning to walk 190 miles, they ended up completing an incredible 208 miles across 13 days of walking.
“My friend Kate, aged 52, was cared for at LOROS in March 2025. She’d been diagnosed with breast cancer a few years before and was in remission but in November 2024 she started to get bad back ache so went to get it checked out. They did some scans and had seen that the cancer was now in her brain and had spread throughout her body. After that she was in hospital until she moved to LOROS in March.
She was only at LOROS for three days. As soon as she went to LOROS, my friends and I visited right away. It was some little things that made such a difference. Since being in hospital she was wearing hospital clothes, but when she arrived at LOROS she could wear her comfy pyjamas. She also loved a glass of red wine so the nurses let her and our group of friends sit and have a glass with her whilst chatting, laughing and crying. Anyone visiting Kate just didn’t have to worry. Her being cared for at LOROS was like a weight lifted off everyone’s shoulders. The nurses looked after us all too, all 7 of us.
When Kate passed we were all given crochet hearts to keep. They originally gave us green ones but then one of the nurses said, “Kate wasn’t a green person was she?”. They then replaced them with rainbow hearts, to match Kate’s personality. They understood her even in just a few days. It was so nice to know they took the time to get to know her.
I was watching Sam Thompson’s Match Ball Mission for Soccer Aid last year. I said to my Mum that we really need to do something. We came up with this mad idea of walking from Coalville to Bournemouth. At the time I thought it would be easy to do, it’s just walking right? We decided we wanted to raise money for both LOROS and Macmillan in memory of both Kate and George who accessed their care.
The walk was a big challenge. The last three days were particularly hard and I was exhausted but I knew the end was in sight. We’d also left a lot of miles until the end with the last day being 16 miles. It took its toll on me and I just hit a wall. I had to keep reminding myself why I was doing it. I knew I would recover from this pain but unfortunately people that have cancer don’t always recover.
The end was really overwhelming. We had friends and family waiting for us at Bournemouth Pier. Finishing in Bournemouth meant a lot as Kate always talked about it so it felt so fitting. I was really overwhelmed with emotion.
The whole experience was bittersweet. This challenge has given me something to focus on during my grief so far. It’s nice to know we’ve given something back in Kate’s name to LOROS. She always wanted to be at LOROS and didn’t want to die in hospital. The achievement of being able to give something back to somewhere that Kate was so passionate about means a lot.
Until Kate was at LOROS, I hadn’t personally experienced it. I’ve never heard a bad word said about the place though. You always just hear how amazing the care is and now I know it for myself.”
Demi and Julie set a target of £10,000 to raise for both LOROS and Macmillan and they have just hit over £9,000 which is just an incredible amount. Thank you so much both for raising vital funds for LOROS.
