East Kent Freemason Warren Hyder, a Past Master of Wakefield of Hythe Lodge No. 6059, has taken on the Jurassic Coast Challenge to raise over £18,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support
The Jurassic Coast Challenge involves either walking or running 100km, starting out at Poole Harbour in Dorset and then along the Jurassic Coast. Warren and his family wished to take on this challenge in recognition of the valuable support that Macmillan has given to several members of his family over the last few years.
Back in 2004, Warren’s brother-in-law Paul Ripley, a member of Wakefield of Hythe Lodge, fought and lost a tough battle with bowel cancer. During his illness, he and the wider family were supported by Macmillan Cancer Support, whose help was invaluable, especially as the family was advised that it needed to embark on genetic testing.
Within a month of losing Paul, aged 43, tests showed that Warren’s wife, Lynn, needed major surgery at a London hospital to save her life. The surgery was carried out within weeks, but that was not the end of the battle they were facing as, during the week leading up to Lynn’s surgery, her sister Tina received the same diagnosis. This resulted in identical surgery nine weeks later.
Fortunately, both Lynn and Tina made good recoveries but there was more bad news to follow. Sadly, in March 2017, they received the devastating news that Paul’s brother, Warren’s brother-in-law, Steve Ripley aged 52, was diagnosed with stage 5 prostate cancer. Steve is also a Past Master of the Wakefield of Hythe Lodge and a Past Provincial Grand Sword Bearer. Having had surgery, radiotherapy and hormone treatment, he has recently been advised that this has not been successful and he is to undergo an intensive regime of chemotherapy.
Macmillan supported the whole family throughout all these difficulties and to give them focus at this difficult time, they wanted to do something positive. Ten members of the family, including Warren, Lynn and their youngest son Joe, Steve’s wife June and their son Brad, all signed up to take part in the Jurassic Coast Challenge in July 2018. Three of the group took on completing 100km over 24 hours, whilst the rest of the group took on 44km, which is the equivalent of a marathon.
The family members were hoping that this crazy adventure would allow them to raise £10,000 collectively to support the amazing work of Macmillan Cancer Support, but instead they managed to raise the magnificent sum of over £18,000.