Hannah raises £35,000 for charity

Hannah Waugh, a medical secretary in the chronic pain service at Kent and Canterbury Hospital, is celebrating an astonishing two decades of fundraising.

Hannah has raised an incredible £35,000 for cancer charities in the past 20 years.

She started fundraising at just seven years old, having lost her grandfather to leukaemia in May 2005. Just two months later, young Hannah undertook the 5km Race for Life. She has taken part in the race every year since, and now tackles 10km runs. She has also taken part in running events throughout the country, raising £2,000 in London’s Cancer Research Shine Marathon alone.

Hannah has now been named one of the top 20 per cent of cancer charity fundraisers in the country. She has raised more than £25,000 for Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support and a further £10,000 for Fight Bladder Cancer.

Her achievement is all the more personal as another close relative was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer before going into remission.

She said: “Fundraising and raising awareness for those who are facing their cancer diagnoses has been a huge part of my life over the last 20 years, alongside my work in the NHS.

“Seven-year-old Hannah wouldn’t have believed it could have become this big.

“I know my grandad would be so proud, and I hope to continue making a difference in the lives of others, especially knowing what it is like to have someone close to you go through this dreadful disease.

“We will keep fighting until every cancer has a cure. Cancer cannot cripple love; it cannot shatter hope, and it most certainly cannot conquer spirit.”