My Thames Path challenge

On Saturday 3 October 2026, I will be walking 21 kilometres (13 miles) along the Thames in the Lady McAdden Thames Path Challenge, organised by Lady McAdden Breast Cancer Trust and raising funds for Big Purple Pants, Lady McAdden and Bosom Pals Southend.

I have brought together a Big Purple Pants team, and we will don our purple T-shirts and walk alongside Lady McAdden and Bosom Pals to raise funds and increase awareness of the support and resources available through all three charities. Twenty-one kilometres is also long enough for optimism to become a blister strategy, so I am training properly.

I am a trustee of Big Purple Pants, a registered charity based in Southend, Essex, supporting people living with secondary breast cancer. Secondary breast cancer is breast cancer that has spread to another part of the body. It is treatable, but it is not currently curable.

Behind that clinical sentence are real people navigating appointments, treatment, uncertainty, family life and the emotional weight of living with an incurable diagnosis. Big Purple Pants exists so they do not have to do that alone.

What Big Purple Pants does

The charity provides emotional support, connection and practical moments of relief for people living with secondary breast cancer. That includes group meet-ups, resources and opportunities for members to spend time with people who understand without needing the entire backstory.

Support does not always need to be grand. Sometimes it is a conversation where nobody tries to fix you. Sometimes it is an activity, a day out or simply the chance to take your mind off cancer for a while and find something to laugh about. Sometimes it is knowing there is a group ready to answer when life feels frightening.

That sense of community is why I became a trustee. I do not have secondary breast cancer, but I have friends who do. I have friends currently living with primary breast cancer, friends who are survivors, and I have lost friends to the battle. I do not pretend to understand what it is like to receive that diagnosis, but through my own journey – including multiple scares, scans and mammograms – I have had a glimpse into the uncertainty and worry some people live with every day. I do not need to have that lived experience to contribute. My role is to use the skills and contacts I do have – including many years in marketing – to help the charity reach more people, raise more money and create more opportunities for its members.

Why a Thames Path challenge?

I love walking. It clears my head, gives me a change of scenery and is one of the few forms of exercise that does not require me to understand complicated equipment or pretend to enjoy burpees.

A half marathon is still a challenge. It requires training, time and the sort of socks you once thought it was impossible to have opinions about. The distance is deliberate: difficult enough to demand commitment, but something a team can share step by step.

Walking beside the Thames should also be beautiful. I am expecting river views, a lot of conversation and at least one point where everybody becomes oddly interested in the next snack stop.

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How I am training

My training is based on gradually increasing distance rather than attempting 21 kilometres from nowhere and hoping enthusiasm will carry my calves.

I am mixing shorter walks with longer weekend routes, wearing the shoes and socks I intend to use on the day, and testing what I need to carry. One of our training walks will cover the first half of the Thames Path marathon route, so together with the 21 kilometres we will complete on the event day, myself and some of the group will have walked the entire 42-kilometre route – just over 26 miles – split into two distances that feel comfortable and achievable for us. We will get to see the whole route without asking everybody’s knees to negotiate it all at once.

I will also be testing the practical bits: water, snacks, blister plasters, a charged phone, a light waterproof and layers that can cope with October behaving like all four seasons before lunch. The event day is not the moment to discover that your new trainers have a personal grievance against your left heel.

How can you help?

The simplest way to help is to sponsor my Thames Path challenge here.

Donations from the challenge will be shared equally between Big Purple Pants, Lady McAdden Breast Cancer Trust and Bosom Pals Southend. The three charities work collaboratively and support one another, with members able to access services and support across the partnership. Every donation therefore helps strengthen a wider network of care for people affected by breast cancer. Please give whatever feels comfortable – small donations are genuinely useful when lots of people make them.

If you would rather support Big Purple Pants directly, you can visit the charity’s support page. UK taxpayers may be able to add Gift Aid at no extra cost, subject to the usual eligibility rules.

Other ways you can help

If a half marathon is not your thing, or you cannot sponsor us at the moment, you can still make a difference. Share the fundraising page, follow the charities, or like and comment on their posts – every small action helps the information reach somebody who may need it. You could also mention the charities at work, offer a raffle prize or service, arrange a collection or hold your own fundraiser.

Awareness matters because secondary breast cancer is still widely misunderstood. People may hear ‘breast cancer’ and assume treatment ends with a neat all-clear, but for those living with secondary disease, treatment and uncertainty continue. A share, a like, a comment or a conversation can all help more people find the support and resources available.

What happens next

I will share training updates, the less glamorous realities of longer walks and the event itself here and on Instagram. I expect there will be good views, questionable weather and a point at which the snack I packed becomes the most important object in Britain.

The serious purpose sits underneath all of it. On 3 October, every kilometre will be for the people Big Purple Pants supports and for the community the charity is building around them.

If you can, please sponsor me. If you can offer a prize, an experience or business support, email info@bigpurplepants.org.uk. And if you or somebody you love is living with secondary breast cancer, visit Big Purple Pants to find out about joining the community.

Useful sources: Big Purple Pants · Support the charity · My sponsorship page