North-east woman receives Fundraiser of the Year award from Parkinson’s charity
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Inspirational Michelle Gillies from Peterhead has been announced as a joint winner of Cure Parkinson’s Fundraiser of the Year award for 2023.
The accolade celebrates fundraisers who have gone “above and beyond” to support the charity’s vital Parkinson’s research, and Michelle truly went the extra mile with her fundraising last year.
Michelle decided to raise funds for Cure Parkinson’s as it is a cause close to her heart; her father lives with Parkinson’s and she has found it incredibly difficult watching his condition deteriorate over the years.
Michelle said: “I chose to support Cure Parkinson’s as my Dad has suffered from the condition for 11 years. He’s at a palliative stage where nothing will help him now unfortunately.
“I see how he has ended up and it’s torture watching him suffer. He can’t even communicate.
“This is why I want to help raise funds for vital Parkinson’s research.”
So, in 2023, Michelle decided to sign up to run the 2024 TCS London Marathon for Cure Parkinson’s and began fundraising straight away.
She set herself an ambitious fundraising target (which she smashed before 2023 had drawn to a close) and planned some wonderful events to raise money for and spread the word about Cure Parkinson’s important work.
So far Michelle has raised more than £19,300 for the charity – and she has not even ran the marathon yet
Although balancing a full-time job, organising fundraising events and training for a marathon has been tough, Michelle has found the process very rewarding.
A particular highlight for Michelle was her Soup and a Sweet fundraiser; a lunch event open to the community with homemade soups, puddings, toffee and fudge on offer.
The event proved so popular that she had to create more space to accommodate everyone who came along, and raised around £2600 that afternoon alone.
Michelle said: “The support I received from the community of Peterhead was overwhelming and I can’t thank everyone enough.
“It feels very emotional to have raised this amount for a charity that is very close to my heart.”
With the London Marathon around the corner (the race takes place on Sunday, April 21), Michelle has been training hard to prepare for the epic 26.2 mile race and is looking forward to the big day.
She added: “I’m feeling nervous and excited about the marathon. I’ve been following an intermediate training plan and also doing a lot of swimming. I’m no athlete but I’ll get there.”
Cure Parkinson’s is extremely grateful to Michelle for her incredible support of the charity, and wish her the best of luck at the 2024 TCS London Marathon.
Helen Matthews, CEO, said: “Michelle has really taken the idea of ‘fun’-draising to another level.
“Her fundraising preparation for the London Marathon began very early and she has really gone the extra mile (or 26) to energise a community to support her challenge.
“We would all like to say thank you to Michelle for her dedication to raising funds and awareness for our research, and a huge congratulations to her for being a joint winner of our Fundraiser of the Year Award.”
Visit https://2024tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/michelle-gillies to donate to Michelle’s fundraiser.
