The 18-year-old, who is currently a leisure attendant at Linx Ice Arena, will be taking part in two different events in the coming months to raise money and awareness for Cancer Research.

Samantha sadly lost her Grandma recently who passed away with mesothelioma, a lung cancer which is caused by asbestos.

Her passion for the cause is the driving force for her efforts: “For me, I have such a personal motivation to raise awareness of the disease and to raise funding for Cancer Research.

“Being so passionate and caring is a large part of why I’m doing it. I also don’t want to see other people have to go through what we have had to as a family.”

The first event Samantha has signed up for is the MacMillan 100 push ups a day in April challenge. The second is the Cancer UK Race for Life on 30th June where Samantha will be taking part in the 10km run.

Speaking of the challenges, Samantha has no fear going into them: “I’ll be throwing myself into the deep end when it comes to the push up challenge. My plan is to do sets of 25 spread out over the day to make the challenge a bit more manageable.

“With the Race for Life event, I used to enjoy doing 5k runs a few times a week, so I am aiming to train to try and get my 10k time down.”

Samantha’s family have been there every step of the way: “My friends and family have been so supportive of everything. It was actually my mum who sent me the link to sign up for the Race for Life! They have been amazing.”

Speaking about a target of raising money, Samantha hasn’t set her sights on a particular amount, she is just keen to raise as much as possible: “I haven’t set a certain amount as to how much I want to raise.

“Every little helps when it comes to such a great cause. I would just ask for people to donate however much they can, every penny can make a difference.”

“I love my fitness and helping others. Having the opportunity to put those two things together to try to make a difference is an amazing opportunity. If I can help Cancer Research and make the fundraising more widely known, then I will feel happy.”

https://www.facebook.com/donate/901332965025006/?fundraiser_source=external_url

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/samsraceforlifeea