This is a thank you to everyone, but first...
In October of 2011 I bleached my hair and goatee bright pink, and managed to raise £1,100 for a local cancer charity called CLAN by doing so. CLAN had helped support one of my work colleagues, who had been battling cancer for a couple of years at that time. She was beating it, they said. She was in remission. And then all of a sudden, she wasn't, and it got hold of her...
...and there were still flecks of pink in my hair when I attending her funeral a couple of months later.
In all honesty, on a personal level, 2011 was a terrible year for me. I didn't know what to do to make it better, and I didn't want to carry on feeling the way I did. Raising money for charity may seem like a noble and selfless thing to do, but for me - in that instance - it was at least in part an attempt to stop the rot, as they say, and make me feel like the year had not been a complete turkey. Maybe, if I could help others I could somehow help myself too.
I still don't know if that's a good reason to raise money, or if it's somehow... dirty, but for those few months when I was collecting funds and gaining momentum, it did help. I quickly realised I was doing something worthwhile, and somewhere along the line I forgot about my own little world, and focused on helping others.
£1,100 isn't all that much really, I know that. Will it save anyone's life? Probably not. But I took some kind of solace from the fact that I helped get that money to the right people, so it could (hopefully) do good things. Justified or not, I saw that as validation, and 2011 wound up being not so bad after all.
As it happens, 2013 has not been a great year for me either, so when I read about Larson7 on the forum, mentioning the desire to do something for charity, I didn't really hesitate. I sent him a message, and the whole thing was organised very shortly thereafter. I didn't think of the logistics of it - I knew we could work the details out as we progressed - because all I was concerned about was making sure I could look back on 2013 and take something positive away from it. So again, my reasons going in were perhaps questionable.
But now I have arrived on the other side of the twenty-four hour poker marathon, and I see from the donation page that people have given in excess of £1,000 for Cancer Research UK, and that they have mostly done so without me having to resort to blackmail or compromising photographs. It's overwhelming, given the narrow timescale, and the proximity to Christmas, but it proves that in the right environment, and with the right people, a good cause will always be supported, no matter what.
So yes, this is a thank you to everyone here who has given generously of their money over the last couple of months, or spent time with Kevin and I on the tables this weekend, or even if you were just there railing us throughout the adventure. I don't want to name-check, because I will miss someone out, but both of us appreciate your support very much, because we could not have done this without you.
This is a fantastic community of very good and decent people, and I am proud to be a part of it; and thanks in no small part to you all, I will remember 2013 as a good year.
Brian
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Comments
Have you slept yet?
It was a phenenomenal amount of money raised, I had no idea at the start it would be even possible.
I was astounded when we surpassed the £1k mark.
To echo Slipwater, thanks to everyone!
#sigh
In the very words of William Shakespeare, it was a fine thing wot you did.
Just Donated, Sry Lads missed this as busy!
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XX]
Raised: 94%
£1,134.19
Thanks again for your time, money, and support.