Get Involved ⟩ 101 Challenge

Rachel raises £1,237 for her 101 Challenge!

Rachel Cartwright blasted her initial £101 fundraising goal by walking 101km in various festive fancy dress outfits over the Christmas period. She raised a massive £1,237 for our charity instead, with her supporters rooting for her all the way.

The 101 Challenge

Every year, approximately 101 children and young people are diagnosed with cancer in the North East and Cumbria, so we ask our supporters to pledge to raise £101, that’s £1 represented for approximately every child diagnosed in our region. Rachel did just that and much more!

The funds raised support children with cancer and their families, by offering direct support and improving quality of life at the hospital wards. Funds are also put towards vital research into childhood cancers at the Wolfson Childhood Cancer Research Centre as part of Newcastle University, to find and offer better and improved treatments to those having to go through one of the most challenging times of their lives.

Rachel made it her challenge to walk 101km in 24 days wearing a different fancy dress costume each day. In the end, she was completing between 5 and 7km a day which meant she finished her challenge on the 19^th December last year. Although she had to start a day later due to Covid-19 isolation, she ended up getting the 101km done even faster in a total of 18 days!

The inspiration behind Rachel’s fundraiser

Rachel’s son, Nathan, is one of the 101 children diagnosed with cancer. He was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in September 2020 at the age of 4. Rachel said about her fundraiser:

“I did this for my son, and all the other amazing families which we’ve had the pleasure to meet throughout his treatment. He is currently thriving as his treatment continues with thanks to the staff at the Great North Children’s Hospital and the research funded by Children’s Cancer North.”

Getting the 101 Challenge done

Rachel told us a little more about the logistics of her 101 Challenge:

“Most of my fundraising was solo, although my son, Nathan (5 years old) and daughter, Ellie (3 years old) joined me in my weekend walks and did a fantastic job handing out lots of leaflets.

“I also had tremendous support from friends and families to help share my story and raise further awareness. My husband and Nathan’s dad, Michael Cartwright, picked me up at the end of my long weekend walks and always spurred me on, each and every day.”

Why was fundraising so important?

Rachel explained why fundraising for Children’s Cancer North was so important to her and their family:

“This fundraising is going towards improving life on the hospital wards and supporting families going through some of the most unimaginable challenges. It’s also to continue research into diagnosing and treating childhood cancer. Without the work that happens behind the scenes in research, quite frankly I could have been raising funds for an entirely different purpose I don’t even want to imagine. I’ll always be entirely grateful to Nathan’s consultant, Dr Shenton and all the amazing staff at The Great North Children’s Hospital, as they saved Nathan’s life the day he was diagnosed on the 16^th September 2020.

“My favourite thing about this challenge, aside from raising money for Children’s Cancer North, was seeing the smiles on people’s faces (especially the children!), as they drove past me, tooting, waving and cheering – it really kept me going through the wind, rain, snow and shine!”

The amazing festive outfits

A final thank you

Thank you very much to Rachel and her family for being so creative and having a load of fun whilst blasting that initial fundraising goal as part of our 101 Challenge.

Fancy starting your own 101 Challenge fundraiser? All the information you need is available here