England and Arsenal star Beth Mead is captaining a national walking challenge for Ovarian Cancer Action in memory of her mum, June Mead.
June Mead died of late-stage ovarian cancer in January 2023 and Beth became an ambassador for the charity in February 2023. Beth is urging people across the country to join the Walk in Her Name challenge to support life-saving research for ovarian cancer.
The challenge involves walking 100KM during March, which is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. It encourages a coming together to celebrate the women with cancer and in memory of those who have sadly lost their lives.
This is the second year Beth has led the challenge but last year, after she inured her ACL in November 2022, she couldn’t participate. This year she’ll be keeping track of her steps as she plays and trains for Arsenal!
Of her captaincy Beth Mead says: “I’m so excited to be the captain for Ovarian Cancer Action’s Walk in Her Name. Ovarian cancer is underfunded and overlooked, and the odds are against women surviving. We lost my mum due to lack of research breakthroughs, and we found out too late. I hope we can raise money through this event to ensure women have more time with their loved ones. I’m super proud to be doing this for my mum.”
The virtual challenge can be done at your own pace, or in teams and any steps you take during March count towards your total. So, whether you choose to go for a walk every day, go for extra-long dog walks at the weekend or track your steps as you play a sport, it’s up to you. Last year the event raised over £200,000.
Ovarian cancer has the lowest survival rates amongst all five gynaecological cancers, with just one in three women living more than 10 years after diagnosis. In the UK it kills a woman once every two hours. Survival is more likely if it’s caught early, but there is currently no screening programme and symptoms often do not develop until stage 3 or 4.
Ovarian Cancer Action is working to transform survival rates so that by 2032 at least half of women with ovarian cancer live for 10 years. The charity has invested more than £12.3 million in life-saving research since 2006 and has the largest research centre dedicated to ovarian cancer research in Europe.
You can sign up to take part at https://ovarian.org.uk/walk-FBP
