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William Middleton supports Marie Curie Cancer Fund

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One Year After Cancer Surgery, Bill Completes Charity Rainforest Trek

Bill hiked between six to eight hours a day in temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius through the extremely tough mountainous terrain of Brazil’s Serra Da Bocaina rainforest. The 56 year old was diagnosed with prostate cancer in July 2011 and a month later he had robotic surgery to remove the prostate at the Royal Hospital, Liverpool. Bill said: “It was an emotional experience for me and a lot of the other trekkers considering that we have had cancer experiences. Many of the trekkers were in tears after finishing the fundraiser. “The rainforests were dense and we saw some snakes and you could hear the monkeys.”

The walk took six days to complete, but Bill nearly had to go back to Rio de Janeiro as he became ill from water born virus. He added: "We didn’t know then that it was the water that was making me ill. I was offered the choice of going back to Rio, or carrying on, and I decided to carry on as I didn’t want to let people down.” He said the highlight of the trip was visiting a school. “A similar group had visited last year and asked the staff what they wanted,” he said. “They said the children needed notebooks, rulers, highlighters, pens and pencils etc., so we all brought different items and we all presented them to the children on our visit to the school. The age range of the children is between 5 and 16 years of age.' The schools in Rio are too far away, therefore this school has to operate a three shift system to allow all age ranges to be catered for e.g 9-12, 12.30-3 and finally the remainer is spent on the senior students.

Bill hopes to hit the £4,000 mark in his fundraising for the Marie Curie Hospice in Liverpool.
Well done Bill from all the staff and students here at NWTC.