I'm Amelia Fawcett, and in addition to
turning 50 this summer, I am going to sail for the first
time across the
Atlantic Ocean on a 47-foot yacht with four men!
As someone who has spent her entire career in the City, and
therefore
much more at home navigating the murky waters of financial
services, this challenge is a first for me and represents a
true leap out
of, what management consultants call, our "comfort zones”.
And it's not just me - none of us on the challenge has made
an Atlantic Crossing on a small boat before, and this
unfamiliar 3,000
mile voyage is expected to be anything but
comfortable - tightly rationed food, a routine of four-hour watches,
battling fear of the unknown and nobody immediately
able to provide
help.
As challenging and extraordinary (in
the true sense of the word) as this will be, it pales in comparison to the challenge
faced when diagnosed and
then undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Your life is
put on hold as you go through repeated chemotherapy, making
you feel sicker than you can imagine, maybe coupled with
radical and traumatic surgery, and then months of agonising
worry for you and your family as you wait for the prayed-for "all
clear".
That's why I want to do something extraordinary.
I want to
help the courageous women (and men) - and their families - who do
something truly extraordinary in battling breast cancer. I'm
doing this because I want to make waves, I want to make a
difference.
Breakthrough Breast Cancer,
the UK's leading breast cancer charity, is pioneering a
crucial study into the causes of breast cancer, and
supporting this study is what MakeWaves4Breakthrough
is all about. This
research will eventually lead to a far
better understanding of this form of cancer and how we might
prevent it taking over the life of someone we love.
I’m not asking you to help me finance
this endeavour - MakeWaves4Breakthrough is entirely
self-funded and I will personally meet the cost of every
expense involved. We all know that medical research is
not cheap, and it’s important to all of us that every penny of
the proceeds from the £250,000 (or nearly $500,000) that
we are hoping to raise goes entirely to The Breakthrough
Generations Study. There are a number of ways to get
involved with MakeWaves4Breakthrough detailed in the
Supporters link above. Other links above will give you more
details on my crew, our boat and the challenge we have set
ourselves. Please support the challenge and our vision of a
future free from the fear of breast cancer by making a contribution.
Thank you for reading this - I hope I
can count on your support.
Amelia Fawcett CBE
The Pendragon leaves Manchester, Mass.
Watch a short video of the departure.
