In 2019 The BigStomp returns bigger than before! Walking the Coast to Coast trail, from St Bees in the Lake district to Robin Hood’s bay on the East coast Jen, Iain and Saul will be walking just over 200 miles and are hoping that other people will be able to join them on the way. Walk some of the miles,, or just be there to cheer them on, honestly any amount of support is greatly received!
Iain’s wife Laura Turner was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 devastating her friends and family including her two young boys.
Laura being Laura put on a bright smile, cut her hair, died it pink, did some small fundraising events for breast cancer charities and after her treatment, she was given the all clear. Then in 2016 they were given the ultimate blow, the cancer had returned and this time it was secondary. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be used to prolong life expectancy but ultimately there was nothing else they could do.
One thing that was abundantly clear to both Iain and Laura was the lack of awareness of secondary cancer and the lack of information given to patients who have been given the all clear from their first diagnosis. Making people aware of the symptoms can prolong someone’s life!
So, with this in mind, Laura and Iain set out to raise awareness. With Iain’s background in the music / DJ industry he had a lot of contacts and knew a lot of people that were willing to help and the first BigStomp was announced.
In 2016 a group of bonkers people walked from the Leeds Bierkeller to the Liverpool Bierkeller. The walk was done in two stages. Stage one was done from Leeds to Manchester with the group comprising of staff and friends from the Leeds Bierkeller. The second stage was from the Manchester Bierkeller to the Liverpool one, this group was made up by Iain, Jen and a group of close friends of Laura and Iain’s. It was a great event and we had a fundraising event in the evening in Liverpool.
The stomp was primarily to raise awareness of secondary cancer and also to raise money for Laura and Iain so that they could take the boys to Disney Land in Paris and make some wonderful memories together which they achieved and the entire family were able to go to Paris, they also went on other trips, to football matches, days out and Iain and Laura got to have some quality time together.
But they weren’t going to stop there. Iain decided that he wanted to go bigger and better.
The BigStomp2017 was born. Cardiff to Liverpool! walking along Ofas Dyke. To say this was a challenge is an understatement that was completed over the course of a week. There were three walking, Iain, Jen and a mutual friend Saul along with two support drivers as well, who met along the way and ferried bags.
Whilst on this walk a number of people asking what the walkers were doing, and made a them aware of secondary cancer.
During this walk Laura was going through chemo treatment, she was able to come and meet the team and spend time with them on the last couple of days. Unfortunately Laura’s cancer was spreading and she was in a lot of pain and she passed away a few weeks after the walk was completed.
She asked to keep on raising awareness with The BigStomp and another aim is to also raise money so that other families who have had a terminal diagnosis on memory making trips as they meant so much to Iain and the boys.
In 2018 Laura’s brother James did a BigStomp, he walked 100k in 24 hours! Carrying on the baton of raising awareness! He did such an amazing job, Laura would have been so proud of him.
Iain, Jen and Saul made a promise to Laura to keep raising awareness and that is what they are planning on doing.
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