An Oxford mother-of-two will take on a 100km trek with 120 other women and five celebrities including Giovanna Fletcher for a breast cancer charity.
Paula Hart, who works at Oxford University’s New College, shared her excitement and apprehension at being narrowed down from thousands of applicants to take part in CoppaFeel!’s trek for charity.
The 42-year-old said: “It was exciting and so overwhelming to be selected, but I feel determined.
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“I’m not a seasoned trekker or anything, in fact, it fills me with horror, so this will be particularly challenging, but this is something really important to me.
“Breast cancer is something that’s taken friends and some family over the years and it’s something we all have to be aware of really, so it’s a really important cause.”
The Summertown local shared that she has Crohn’s Disease, a lifelong condition that impacts the digestive system, making the 100km challenge through Pembrokeshire in Wales and camping an extra challenge.
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After two years of Covid lockdown and scares, which she has had to shield herself from as a vulnerable person, she said this challenge is extremely important to her.
She said: “I just wanted to give something back. It was very hard so to be back to normal and able to get out and really do something is great.”
Mrs Hart said her two children Bella, age 10, and Jojo, age 7, have been extremely supportive and have been coming on some of the training with her.
She said: "The other day [my children] both gave me £5 of their own pocket money towards the fundraising and it brought tears to my eyes.
"They knew I had been stressed about raising enough money in time and so that was their way of showing support, and I just... it was so amazing."
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The mother-of-two must also raise at least £2250 before the event on June 11.
She has already raised over 90% of the money, and is now on the final push.
She said: “I know some people can afford to give and some really can’t, but anything that could go towards this important charity would be amazing.
"If I can raise that amount, or even over it that would just completely make it for me."
The Coppa Trek 2022 will be spearheaded by the bestselling author, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here winner and actress Giovanna Fletcher, who is married to McFly’s Tom Fletcher.
It aims to raise £400,000 and is nearly halfway, with Paula Hart the only trekker selected from Oxford.
The CoppaFeel! Charity focuses on promoting the early detection of breast cancer.
Paula Hart's JustGiving page can be found here: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/paulajhart
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