Charities

As many of you will be aware my colleague Laura Wakefield was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in her foot in February this year resulting in her lower leg being amputated in May 2017.

Along with Jennifer Mallon and Claire Robinson from GVA’s Liverpool office I have taken part in a skydive on 8 September as part of a fundraising campaign, which aims to purchase the best possible prosthetic leg for Laura, as well as helping fund adaptations that will increase her independence.

Having discovered a lump in her foot which continued to grow, it became apparent that Laura had an extremely rare form of cancer called sarcoma which was finally diagnosed in April 2017. Due to the nature of the cancer and its rarity, the usual forms of treatment were unfortunately ineffective, meaning amputation was the only way to stop the cancer spreading. That operation took place in May 2017.

Laura, who has worked at the Liverpool GVA office since 2013, has documented her journey so far on her inspirational blog, Best Foot Forward. Jen, Claire and myself are taking part in the skydive hoping to make a significant contribution and over £7,000 has already been raised through generous donations. Laura’s love of life is truly inspirational and her positivity is infectious. So when Jen put herself forward to do a skydive to help raise funds, Claire and I decided that we had to sign up as well! And so the 3 of us will be putting our “best foot forward”, over the side of a plane!

Please give us your support as we do our little bit to support Laura. To donate, please visit - www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jennifer-mallon

Many thanks for your support.

Stephen Cowperthwaite
Regional Senior Director, GVA