Can't find all the background stuff, sent Eddie something like this:
I set up the EDP Breast Cancer Appeal with friends and colleagues at the Eastern Daily Press newspaper three years ago.
We initally set out to raise ?100,000; to improve facilities in the Breast Care Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), in King's Lynn.
Actress Claire Goose and TV weathergirl Becky Jago agreed to be our patrons and it really captured the imagination of people from Norfolk.
When we hit our target in under a year, the hospital asked if we fancied a stab at raising ?500,000 to fund a more ambitious scheme.
To date, the appeal stands at just over ?240,000. The first phase of work is more or less complete but fund raisers are still hard at work.
My Mum had breast cancer and I always wanted to do something by way of thanks to the people who made miracles and gave her back her life.
She's still alive thanks to them, and enjoying her grand-children. And my kids still have their Nan.
When we launched the appeal, we were bowled over by how many people's lives it touched - including people we knew.
One woman workmate lost her mum to breast cancer not long after we hit the ?100,000 mark.
I lost count of the number of times it moved me to tears, some of the people who raised money for it are no longer with us.
This is something that could hit any of our Mums, wives, relatives, girlfriends or female friends.
But the good news is that more and
more women are surviving it, because they're getting to detecting it earlier and
earlier, when treatment stands an increased chance of success.
Before the appeal was launched, the unit at the QEH was cramped and there weren't even dedicated changing facilities.
The demands on breast care units across the country are rocketing, both because of our aging population and increased awareness of the symptoms.
Women waiting for potentially bad news shared a waiting room with people with minor injuries and ailments being treated by other departments at the hospital.
And perhaps worst of all, anyone given the devastating news that they had cancer had to walk back through the waiting rooms
to another area of the hospital to get their crucial first counselling.
We wanted to help them modernise things and above all give the women treated at the unit a bit of privacy and dignity back
at what for many is the worst time of their lives.
It also helps speed up that crucial stage between diagnosis and treatment.
We've achieved a lot already. I'm so proud friends from FISHINGmagic are coming on board to help.
I've seen this happen a few times now, probably most notably in memory of James Farrow, the son of Rich and Di.
Thanks to Eddie and anyone who gets involved for caring.
~ Hard-nosed hack with tears in his eyes..!
