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<div>Help Me Make Memories While I Still Can
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<div>Hi, I’m Pauline - a 50 year old single mum to three amazing kids and a full-time fundraiser for a homelessness charity. I’ve spent over a decade supporting others, from crowdfunding for local clubs to running Easter egg collections for kids in care. I never expected to be the one asking for help - but here I am, hoping to create memories while I still can.
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<div>After the pandemic, I never got my energy back. I was constantly exhausted. My GP put it down to weight gain, menopause, or just age (I was 48!!). Blood tests showed raised inflammatory markers, and they kept climbing. GP kept repeating the test every 6 weeks but no further investigations despite them getting higher each time.
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<div>Around the same time, I was referred for a scan to check for gallstones. On 22nd November 2023, I had a CT scan. Just two days later, on 24th November, I got a call: “There’s been a cancellation, can you come in on Tuesday?” I burst into tears. My original results appointment was booked for January. So I knew that it wasn’t just a cancellation, they don’t skip 7 weeks of people in the queue do they?
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<div>The next day, I hosted my biggest fundraising event of the year - my fabulous Strictly at the Titanic - raising £83,000 for Shelter. I smiled, cheered, and pushed the anxiety of my upcoming appointment aside.
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<div>On 28th November, I was told I had a 5cm tumour on my kidney, and ten days later I got the call to say my entire kidney would need to be removed. (By a robot! A robot assisted radical nephrectomy. All I could picture were the smash robots!)
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<div>Surgery and the diagnosis
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<div>I had surgery on 7th February and I was so scared that I was going to die in surgery, I wrote letters to my children, partner, and dad before theatre. The recovery was brutal - I couldn’t sit up, move, or get to the toilet. My partner Peter had to walk me up and down the street in my pyjamas to rebuild my strength. I couldn’t drive for months. If you know me you know how much I love to drive!
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<div>When the results came back, the diagnosis was worse than expected: aggressive grade 4 clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Cancer had already spread to two lymph nodes so it was no longer contained to the kidney.
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<div>I was referred to Clatterbridge and started immunotherapy to reduce the chances of it coming back. 
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<div>In May I got intense pain down the left side of my ribs. I pushed through to do the things we had planned, Greenday in Manchester -though we had to leave halfway through, Glastonbury - where we volunteer for a charity - and take my daughters to see Taylor Swift, but I was struggling badly.
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<div>On 1st July I went in for my scan results. “I’m afraid it’s bad news.” The immunotherapy hadn’t worked, the cancer was back, had spread and was now incurable.
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<div>Living with incurable cancer
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<div>Since then, I’ve been on a couple of treatments. The first (Tivozanib) didn’t work. I’m now on Everolimus and Lenvatinib, which are working for now at a much lower dose than I should be on. Side effects can be harsh, nausea, pain, fatigue, and more, plus the failed immunotherapy has caused other issues for me, thyroid damage, high blood pressure, high cholesterol. I take multiple medications just to function.
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<div>I’m still working full-time from home. I have to - we’re not wealthy. And I want to keep going for as long as I can. I love my job and I love helping people.
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<div>Why I need your help
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<div>Before all this, Peter and I had plans. We wanted to get married (talked about going to see a SpaceX launch for a honeymoon!!) Convert a campervan. Visit my friends in Boston and his family in Canada. Take a cruise. Live life, slowly and joyfully.
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<div>Now we’re racing the clock - and we simply don’t have the funds.
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<div>I’m not asking for the moon. Just for the chance to make a few memories. To do a few of the things I thought I had time for. To create moments with my children, my partner, and the people I love.
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<div>If you can donate, share, or support in any way, I’d be so grateful.
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<div>Thank you for reading.
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<div>Pauline
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<div>What I can remember for my bucket list is in the gallery.
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</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/93162313_1753963618279725_r.png" width="100%" />
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Kevin Skinley

William Gildea

L J HILL

Rob Hardaker

Laura Hughes

Alistair Houghton

Shaun McCann

stephen carlin

Michael Hourihan

Caireen Culligan

Jan Coogan

Jennifer Nugent

Miss Alexandra

Angela Milner

Nathan Selby

Abigail Rourke

Louis Forbes

Mark McNulty

Adrienne Taylor

Cara Jones

Pauline’s bucket list

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Just £675£ to go! Make an impact.

Pauline’s bucket list

Just £675 to go!
Make an impact.