Susan Sedden

My mother is a true inspiration. I know everybody says this about their mothers but mine really is. When I was just 12 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and as she owned her own business and worked by herself she attempted to set up a self sufficient enterprise so that she could take time off to recover. She chose to open up a Gym & a `wellness` beauty centre. A few months later a country club with the same equipment opened up nearby and my mother lost everything, including us. Battling cancer and with her two children living two hours away as well as being on the brink of bankruptcy, she had to sell everything including our boat, but she managed to keep the building her business was based in. Once it had been stripped bare from the inside she slept on the floor and managed to get back to work, providing the money for my brother and I to continue at school. She slept on the floor when she was truly ill & has built her business back up. It is not at its former glory yet, but in many respects it is better and she is an incredible woman because of it. To remind herself how lucky she has been, she volunteers at numerous charities (including volunteering in a soup kitchen & with the Samaritans, amongst others). She sees it as her life`s work to help the others around her and because of the bitter hardship she has faced. Her selfless attitude is the reason that I am nominating her as a torch bearer. The endless lives she has touched, beyond my own is incredible.