Leah Gorry - CEO
I'm Leah, CEO and Mark's wife. Firstly, I hope you love the new website as much as we do! Secondly, I just wanted to tell you a little bit about my personal journey and more importantly, how I see the future for The Mark Gorry Foundation.
The past 15 months have been the hardest of my life and through everything, Mark and my family and friends have kept me going. Dealing with Cancer is a horrific experience and to lose someone you love, as we all will or already have, is heartbreaking. I can't speak for anyone else apart from myself, but I can tell you that this has been so difficult and every single day is a huge challenge.
One day, shortly after the wedding, Mark was going ten to the dozen, talking about the foundation and his plans, when I suddenly asked the inevitable, "Mark, who's gunna look after the foundation when it happens?", Mark looked at me like I was mad and said, "You", just like that.
At first, I was worried and felt pressured. I think the responsibility at that time, was just too much on top of everything else I was doing.
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I was worried that I would crack at any point. We talked about it and I realised that this would pass when the time was right.
Mark took this opportunity to tell me that the foundation would only ever be what we make it - no pressure. I'll take this statement as a gift from him and will probably use it throughout my life, in many different paths I take.
Anyway, where are we heading? We're taking baby steps at the moment and have so much to learn, but we know where we want to be. We want to achieve Mark's goal of raising £1 million and more importantly we want to really change how men think when it comes to their balls!
When Mark set up the foundation in October, he received an email from someone who had found a lump in his testes some time ago. After hearing about Mark's story, his foundation and reading the information on the website, he had been to the doctors and was referred to a specialist. Mark read the email and cried. He cried because he was so proud of having a personal impact on one person and possibly his life.
Mark said, "It was all worth it for that one email." I don't know who that person was, or whether it was a false alarm - I hope it was, but how amazing to make such a difference.
That is what we are hoping to achieve. To make a difference by educating men (and women!) on what to look out for, how to self examine and to promote the importance of getting it checked out by your doctor if you have any concerns. Early detection really can save your life. For Mark, it was too late, but for you we hope it is not.
Leah
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