Our Nurse Kate’s inspirational 10k run at Melbourne Marathon

(written by Kate Wakelin) 

In October, I was joined by a fabulous team of people in running to raise funds for the Unicorn Foundation in the Melbourne Marathon. My friend and running buddy Kathryn Edbrooke, Emily Wakelin (my 16-year-old daughter) and I ran in the 10k event, whilst oncology nurse Esther Yeoman ran the half marathon for her Mum, who was diagnosed with a NET last year. And amazingly, Rohan Sykes, who had previously suffered 3rd degree burns to 35% of his body in an industrial accident, ran his first full marathon for his wife who was also diagnosed with a NET last year!

All of us had very compelling reasons to run in this event. For me, working as the NET Patient Support Nurse with the Unicorn Foundation has brought me face-to-face with the numerous challenges that my patients deal with, and I felt so honoured to be able to "give back" just a little. Having said that, I had never considered myself a “runner”, so the preceding months were full of training (I learned that I love running in the cold Melbourne rain – go figure!)

The day of the Marathon was amazing – the atmosphere was absolutely electric with so many people running for so many reasons. I ran spurred on by the thoughts of so many of the people I speak to who are affected by NETs – so many had sent messages of support and encouragement! Although we have come so far with treatments and support for NETs, there is still so much more to be done and I was determined to do as much as I could to raise these much-needed funds.

We were thrilled with the result of raising over $2300 for the Unicorn Foundation. This money will go directly into funding research into a cure for NETs. I am already dreaming about aiming even higher in 2017 – who wants to join our team?

There is still time to donate to our team’s efforts – you can do this at https://melbournemarathon2016.gofundraise.com.au/page/UnicornFoundation