Yesterday, I swapped my usual Sunday routine for some running shoes and a trip back to London, but not for a trip to the office but Hyde Park instead, joining hundreds of others to raise money for Cancer Research UK. As a team at Total Onion, we’re used to working closely together, but this was something far more meaningful than briefs and deadlines.
Adrian, Ciaran, Nadez, Ravi and I all took part, each of us running for our own reasons, but united by the same goal: to support a cause that touches so many lives. One of the most moving parts of the day was running alongside Nadez, who had just completed her 15th and final session of radiotherapy. She’s still feeling the effects of the treatment, but showed up and tackled the 3k with incredible strength and grace. Honestly, her resilience put everything into perspective and reminded us exactly why we were there.
We were also joined by Rosalie and Veronica, cheering us on and keeping morale high.
The statistics speak for themselves:
- 1 in 2 people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
- Over 375,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, that’s more than 1,000 a day.
- But thanks to research, cancer survival rates have doubled since the 1970s.
- Today, over half of people diagnosed survive for 10 years or more.
Cancer Research UK receives no government funding for their research, so events like this and the donations that come with them are critical. Every step we ran, and every pound raised, helps fund life-saving research and innovations in treatment.
For me personally, having been on a bit of a fitness journey over the past three years, I’ve learned that there’s definitely something special about running together. So when there’s an opportunity to step away from laptops and Teams calls to share laughs and cheer each other on, I don’t usually need a second invitation. It’s a different kind of team effort, but one that I feel brings us even closer.
We left Hyde Park proud, and reminded of the power of community inside and outside the studio.
Here’s a link to our donation page.
https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/team/total-onion-team