Ambulance paramedic Chelsey Evans overcame the ‘pain barrier’ to raise more than £1,000 in support of TASC, The Ambulance Staff Charity after running her first ever half marathon.
Chelsey, who qualified as a paramedic with East Midlands Ambulance Service in 2016, completed the Leicestershire Half Marathon, held on February 11, in a time of just under three hours. But the 28 year old from West Yorkshire found it hard going over the last few miles of the course at Prestwold Hall in Loughborough.
She said:
“I have got a bit of a dodgy hip so I struggled after about eight miles, but I knew I had to complete the last five miles of the course because of who I was raising the money for. I have raised more than a thousand pounds but I’ve probably got a couple of hundred more to get. My giving page has attracted around £600 so far but people can still donate to it.”
Chelsey, who worked with children in care in Leeds before deciding to join the ambulance service, combines her role as a paramedic with that of a TASC volunteer.
She added:
“The half marathon was the first big thing I have done but I am always getting people to sign up to pay monthly to TASC. Our GMB union branch at EMAS has been doing things for TASC for a number of years. But, around the beginning of last year, it was decided to push the fund-raising a bit more, so that’s when I became more involved.
“I decided to enter the Leicestershire Half Marathon and then realised I only had 11 weeks training to get ready. I did enough, or at least as much as I could, so I was able to complete it.”
Chelsey, who did her university course at Northampton and her ambulance training in Leicester, is now looking ahead to other fundraising challenges in aid of TASC, organised through the local GMB branch.
“We’re looking to do the Three Peaks Challenge, a bike ride, and also plan to pull an ambulance on the beach in Skegness,”
she said.
Sophie Collins, Fundraising Manager at TASC, said:
“Chelsey has done incredibly well to raise so much money, with more still coming in, so we would like to say a huge thank you to her for her efforts, and her work as a TASC volunteer.
“Hopefully her example will encourage others to take on fundraising challenges in support of TASC.”
People can still donate to Chelsey’s giving page at: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ChelseyEvans/1
Anyone interested in raising money in aid of TASC can find details of how to get involved by visiting http://www.theasc.org.uk/fundraising
For general information about TASC please visit www.theasc.org.uk or call 0247 7987 922.
TASC is also available on Twitter at @TASCharity and on Facebook at @TASC The Ambulance Staff Charity.