Southport mum Heather inspires cancer charity walk

1st May 2015

Photo: Heather Rodgers and Pete Cunningham with Sister Julie Marshall, from the Medical Day Unit at Southport hospital, and Nurse Heather Vasey, from The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust. 

A young mum’s inspirational coming to terms with cancer has helped raise £630 for the NHS unit helping treat her.

Heather Rodgers, 31, from Southport, received a terminal diagnosis of bowel and liver cancer just after Christmas.

She and husband Ben have two children Adia, three, and Heath, one, and attend Christ Church in Lord Street, Southport.

Fellow member of the congregation Pete Cunningham was inspired by Heather’s faith and strength of character to raise money for the Medical Day Unit at Southport and Formby District General Hospital.

Heather said: “I don’t know how people get through something like this without faith. Since very soon after I was told it was terminal, I have had a total feeling of peace. It’s in God’s hands and the support and prayers for my recovery from the church has been fantastic.”

Before her diagnosis Heather was a music therapist at Derian House, a children’s hospice near Chorley. She has now taken on the role of worship director at Christ Church and is developing its musical repertoire.

Pete said: “Heather is a fantastic person and inspired me to do the walk. I was going to a Christian retreat near Skipton, in north Yorkshire, and decided to ask church members to sponsor me to walk the 63 miles there rather than drive.”

He set off on Easter Sunday and arrived the following Wednesday, clocking up £10 a mile.

A self-confessed couch potato, Pete now has the walking bug and plans to walk the 70 miles to another church event at Whitchurch in Shropshire, sleeping rough in a tent to raise money for the homeless.

Picture shows Heather Rodgers and Pete Cunningham with Sister Julie Marshall, from the Medical Day Unit at Southport hospital, and Nurse Heather Vasey, from The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust. 

 

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