Take on your own Virtual Fundraiser!
Virtual fundraising is still one of the easiest and safest ways to fundraise. From Pyjama parties and movie nights, to bake-offs and gameathons like this, there's loads of different ways to get involved!
Lee & Chris Complete 24-hour Gameathon
Lee Walmsley and friend Chris Teague have completed their 24-hour gameathon, in memory of Chris’ father Derek, raising a brilliant amount of funds for Pancreatic Cancer Action (PCA) in the process.
After 2 months of promoting the event, the time had finally come for Lee and Chris to begin their gameathon. They kicked things off at 8am Saturday morning only to experience some immediate connection issues. Luckily his wife and mother-in-law were on hand to save the day with a backup webcam and the stream could continue on ‘lag-free’.
Lots of family and friends stopped by on the stream to say hello and offer their encouragement. They were also joined by Lees brother Garry and his girlfriend Alba, who played a few games with them too.
After a whole day of continuous gaming, Lee and wife Sarah paused for a moment later that evening to raise a toast for Lee’s dad. He described the moment,
“We raised a toast to Dad at 8pm with everyone in the stream to spend a moment thinking of Dad and to thank all the people that had donated during this campaign! This was a nice moment!”
Lee soldiered on to midnight when he begun to feel the tiredness kicking in.
“I went through waves, one moment I was thinking “This isn’t actually that bad, easier than I thought”, to “Bloody hell, I don’t think I can make it”.
He kept reassuring himself and maintaining a positive attitude to the task ahead.
"It’s just the same as going to do a day’s work in the office now"
He also kept reminding himself why he took the challenge on in the first place and was spurred on by the viewers that joined him along the way.
“It was during these moments where I was struggling that I was driven on by the viewers encouragement, all that money that had been raised, and just the thought of why I was doing this, for Dad!”
It came down to the last hour and Chris recalls beginning to really struggle with the tiredness.
“The final hour was probably one of the most challenging things my body has been through. I was exhausted, my body ached and for the first time ever, I was starting to not enjoy gaming anymore!”
However, several family members and friends had set alarms to cheer them over the line on Sunday morning and they did it!
Lee now looks back on the event as a huge success for several reasons.
“I was struggling emotionally to come to terms with Dads death but this campaign has given me a platform to reflect on the positive memories of Dad and challenge myself to have a more positive outlook as all this was done for him, I wanted to do something that would have made him proud!”
"Thank you to everyone that has provided support and donations!”
Lee had originally raised a fantastic £1000 before the challenge took place but further donations during the stream took his total to £1,330. A brilliant achievement!
His JustGiving page is still open, and any donations made will be greatly appreciated.
