27 Days In: £14,917 Raised and the Final Stretch Ahead

27 Days In: £14,917 Raised and the Final Stretch Ahead

When Step Up For Oracle began on 1 August, £10,000 was the target. With four days of the campaign left, the total raised for Oracle Head and Neck Cancer UK now stands at £14,917!

Getting this far has taken a lot of early starts from Mark and a great deal of generosity from everyone around him. Clients, colleagues, friends, family, sponsors and people following from further afield have all played a part. Thank you, genuinely.

270 kilometres down

The routes have continued to cover a good mix of Yorkshire and, more recently, London. Day 21 took in Leeds, Kirkstall, West Park and Headingley. The following day moved south for a walk along the Thames, followed on Day 23 by Kensal Green to St Pancras. Day 24 was a loop of Richmond Park, before Day 25 brought the challenge back to Leeds for Temple Newsam, Woodsford and Skelton Lakes.

Very few of those kilometres have been walked without company. Tremark colleagues, clients, friends and family have joined Mark for full routes and shorter stretches, bringing conversation, encouragement and, on some mornings, a useful distraction from the weather.

The final six walks will take in Wensleydale; Spofforth, Wetherby and Linton; Thorpe Park; Aberford; Woodsford and St Aidan’s Park; and, finally, Temple Newsam Park on Day 31. Completing them will bring the month’s total to 310 kilometres.

The reason behind every kilometre

The campaign has always had a personal reason behind it. In the summer of 2023, Mark was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer affecting his throat, tongue and a nearby lymph node. He then went through an intensive course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy under the care of Dr Mehmet Sen, whose expertise and support Mark credits with getting him through treatment.

Dr Sen has since retired from the NHS and now gives much of his time as a trustee of Oracle Head and Neck Cancer UK. The charity supports patients and their families, raises awareness, works to improve earlier diagnosis and funds research into better treatments and outcomes.

The need for that work has not changed during the month. Around 17,000 people are diagnosed with head and neck cancer in the UK each year. It is now the fourth most common cancer in men, case numbers are increasing by around 30% every decade, and only a third of cases are diagnosed early.

Those figures are the wider reason for Step Up For Oracle. The money raised matters, but so does putting head and neck cancer in front of people who may previously have known very little about it.

Thank you to our sponsors

Fourteen businesses have formally backed the campaign, with their support making up an important part of the total. Our sincere thanks go to:

• Shadowfax Funding Solutions
• Baytree Interiors
• FRP Advisory
• Clarion Solicitors
• Reward Funding
• CWN Group
• Nurture CRM
• Wilson & Roe
• McCarthy’s Storage World
• TIB Group
• J9 Special Situations
• Addlestone Keane
• TFG Capital
• Fresh Thinking Capital
• Hilco Global
• Sydo IT Services
• Excello Law

The same thanks go to every individual who has donated, shared the campaign, joined a walk or simply asked Mark how his legs are holding up. The total has grown through a lot of people doing something, however large or small.

Six days to go

At £14,917, Step Up For Oracle is now just short of its £15,000 stretch target. The latest total is recorded on the JustGiving page, while the remaining routes and the wider story of the challenge are set out on the campaign page.

Whatever the final figure on 31 August, the original aim has already been outdone. The last six walks are now about finishing what Mark started, adding as much as possible to the support going to Oracle and keeping attention on a group of cancers that are still too often diagnosed late.

Persistent symptoms such as a mouth ulcer, lump, unexplained change to the voice or sore throat should not be ignored. Awareness and earlier diagnosis can make a real difference.

Step Up For Oracle forms part of Tremark’s wider community involvement work.