East Sussex mother walks 100km across the Lake District to raise money for son battling Kidney cancer

Dani Cameron-Waller completed the marathon trek with eleven of her friends on June 10 and 11, battling the sweltering heat to raise more than £19,000 for the Young Lives vs Cancer charity.

She told SussexWorld: “It was hell. We picked the hottest weekend, Saturday was 31 degrees and we had to climb some of the biggest hills in England.

“50 per cent of the teams that signed up dropped out and we lost two people on the first day to heat stroke.

"The first day was unbearably hot, but we all stuck together. We looked after each other, strapped our feet up and topped up on water and snacks constantly.

“It seemed like the longest kilometres in the world on the Sunday. But we got there in the end, very blistered.”

Dani’s son Frey was diagnosed with stage two kidney cancer just after his second birthday in May 2022, after doctors found a large tumour attached to his left kidney.

The youngster started weekly chemotherapy to shrink the tumour and then had surgery to have it and his entire kidney removed.

After his diagnosis, Dani decided she needed to focus on a big challenge to help support her son, she said: “Last May he [Frey] got diagnosed with kidney cancer, stage two. He was put straight onto chemotherapy and had an operation a month later to have his tumour and kidney removed, followed by six months of chemotherapy.

“I needed something to focus on, some sort of challege. So I asked a few of my friends and we created this team of twelve.

“We started practising and signed up for the Lake District Ultra Challenge in January.”

Dani chose to raise money for Young Lives vs Cancer, after they had provided her and her family with both mental and financial support during the last year.

She said: “They [the charity] would ring me every three weeks. So they are very close to my heart, as I needed that support.”

Following a 27-week course of chemotherapy, Frey was given the all clear in January, but will have to attend regular three month check-ups for the next five years.

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Having walked over a number of tough hills, the Garburn Pass and the historic Ambleside in less then 48 hours, Dani said she was ‘overwhelmed’ with emotion when she crossed the finish line on Sunday night.

She said: “I was overwhelmed. That’s all I focused on whilst I was training, was that finish line. It was so much harder than we thought It would be.

“I did not want to cross the finish line without my friends and we all went arm-in-arm across the finish line. It was amazing.

"Sunday morning, I didn't think we would cross that line, but we did.

“Frey has been such a brave little boy and we did this walk in honour of him and all the other brave children who are dealing with cancer.”

To donate to Dani’s walk click here