Purple Power

A fundraiser for pancreatic cancer · November 2026

Purple
Power

70 miles. 30 days of November.
One purple ribbon. Hundreds of reasons to be alive.

Medicine treats cancer.
But a human being is more than their cancer.

So for 30 days, I’m walking 70 miles around Yorkshire to explore the things that help us keep living while life is happening to us — movement, friendship, nature, laughter, purpose, creativity, courage, love and hope.

And I’m going to raise a ridiculous amount of money for the people working to make sure more of us get longer to enjoy them.

Sponsor the miles Walk with me
Rachel Flower smiling in a superhero costume, framed by swirling purple ribbons
Flower Power70 miles, collecting stories and completing challenges
70Purple Miles
30Days of November
LotsOf pledged challenges
1Secret Room

This November

I’m walking across Yorkshire to celebrate life in all its fullness — and raise as much money as I possibly can for pancreatic cancer.

Not because me walking 70 miles will cure cancer.

It won’t.

But these things matter:

And when cancer enters a life, perhaps we’re reminded rather brutally just how much they matter.

So I’m going looking for them — and I’ll be your roving reporter, telling you what I find.

The Purple Power Quest

70 Purple Miles.
One long purple ribbon.

For 30 days, I’ll travel across Yorkshire, walking 70 Purple Miles and carrying one long purple ribbon with me.

I’ll take it to beautiful places, strange places, ordinary places and places that mean something.

Along the way I’ll meet friends, strangers, experts, people affected by cancer and anyone else willing to stop for a conversation. And I’ll ask one simple question:

What makes you feel alive?

No clever answers required. It might be…

  • Your children, your dog, or standing on top of a mountain with the wind on your face.
  • Dancing in the kitchen, cold-water swimming, growing potatoes on your allotment.
  • Having sex, singing, or Sunday lunch. (Hopefully not at the same time.)
  • Football or frisbee. Creating something beautiful, or being useful to people you care about.
  • Laughing until something comes out of your nose.

Whatever it is, I want to hear it.

Because raising awareness of pancreatic cancer is about finding a cure and better treatments. But underneath all of that, it’s really about Life — and giving hope.

Will you join me on my quest?

Sponsor the miles

Purple Power Side Quests

Some detours are less dignified than others.

The miles are the main event. But you didn’t really think I’d walk 70 miles across Yorkshire without taking a few wrong turns on purpose, did you?

A handful of the original Purple Power missions have survived. They’re still ridiculous. The reason still isn’t. But they’re locked — and it’s £50 to set each one loose.

Unlock one of mine, or set me one of your own.

Click a card to flip it.

Rachel laughing in purple boxing gloves beside a cut-out face and a sign asking 'Can we get Tom Cruise to donate £19?'
Mission: Improbable.

Unlock a quest, or set your own

It’ll cost you.
£50 a quest.

Want to see me serenade a mannequin? Or got an idea of your own that would make me laugh, blush, or question every decision that led me here? For a donation of £50 or more, you get to put it in the mix.

  1. 1Donate £50 or more on my JustGiving page.
  2. 2Use your donation comment to name the quest you’re unlocking — e.g. Unlock: The Serenade — or to describe your own side quest.
  3. 3Follow along to see whether I make it, and how much dignity survives.
Donate £50+ on JustGiving

The small print, from a lawyer: I’ll choose which new quests make the route, and I reserve the right to politely decline anything unsafe, unkind, illegal, or likely to get me struck off. Your donation goes to pancreatic cancer either way.

World Pancreatic Cancer Day · Thursday 19 November · Leeds

Join us in
the Secret Room

A candlelit 1920s speakeasy. The stories, laughter and words collected along the way. Courage, compassion — and cash.

Join us in the Secret Room

One purple ribbon. Across Yorkshire.

Held by hundreds
of hands.

I’ll carry the same purple ribbon throughout the journey. By the end of November it will have travelled all 70 miles — and hopefully carry hundreds of little reminders of what we’re fighting for.

MILE 0 MILE 70

Mark the moment

At each stop, we’ll use the ribbon to mark the moment before I carry it onwards.

Add your word

I’ll invite people I meet to hold it, add a word to it, or tell me something they’ve learned about living.

Leave something behind

Wherever possible, Purple Power will leave an invitation for whoever comes next to stop for a moment and ask themselves the question.

The question

What makes me feel alive?

30 days. Countless ways of living.

Each leg of the journey explores something different.

I’ve always been interested in what helps human beings live well — particularly when life becomes difficult.

Having been through adversity myself, lost loved ones, and watched my youngest daughter fight leukaemia, I’ve learnt a lot about what it means to search for hope in the darkest of times.

Rachel grinning in purple boxing gloves, guard up
This is still Purple Power, after all.
  1. Move
  2. Laugh
  3. Belong
  4. Love
  5. Nature
  6. Hope
  7. Purpose
  8. Speak
  9. Feel
  10. Play
  11. Create
  12. Nourish
  13. Rest
  14. Notice
  15. Give
  16. Receive
  17. Believe
  18. Courage
  19. Live

Some days will be thoughtful. Some will involve extraordinary people. Some will take me somewhere beautiful. And some will almost certainly involve me making a complete idiot of myself in public.

This is still Purple Power — and Life — after all.

Why movement?

Our bodies were made to move.

There is now strong evidence that appropriate physical activity can play an important role in supporting people living with and beyond cancer. Exercise can help physical function, strength and fitness, and can reduce some of the fatigue, anxiety and other effects associated with cancer and its treatment.

But I’m not walking 70 miles because I think exercise is a miracle cure.

I’m walking because walking creates different thoughts and different conversations. Because being outside in nature changes things. And because 70 miles gives me a very good excuse to wander around Yorkshire talking to people I would otherwise never meet.

Each mile is a reminder of how lucky I am, on this day, to be able to get out, move my body and meet new people.

The miles are the thread connecting the story. Who knows what stories we’ll find?

Why joy?

Life still to live.

Cancer campaigns understandably talk about survival. But survival has a single purpose.

We want people to survive because there are birthdays still to have, songs still to sing, holidays still to take and hands to hold. People still to fall in love with, arguments still to have, and dogs that still want to be walked.

There may be grandchildren still to meet, bad jokes still to tell and completely unnecessary shoes still to buy.

So alongside raising awareness of pancreatic cancer, Purple Power is going to be unapologetically interested in joy. Fun isn’t frivolous. My laughter — and hopefully yours — this November isn’t a failure to take cancer seriously.

Celebrating Life is precisely how we show how seriously we take its loss.

How do we live as fully as we can while we’re here?

Medicine treats disease. Research gives us better treatments and, hopefully, more time. And then there is everything we do with that time.

That’s what I’m going looking for.

Follow the Purple Power ribbon with me

Each day, I’ll reveal the next destination.

Sometimes I’ll know exactly where I’m going. Sometimes somebody else will choose. If you follow along, you might get to decide.

I’ll share the miles, the people I meet, their answers and whatever happens along the way.

Look out for my purple ribbon, and if our paths cross, come and talk to me. If you’d like to walk with me on any particular day in November, I would LOVE to have you.

Walk with me Follow along

If we meet, I may ask you

What makes you feel alive?

…and my curiosity is unlikely to stop there.

You have been warned.

Why pancreatic cancer?

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the toughest cancers we face.

It is personally affecting a very close friend of mine right now. I’m raising awareness and funds for her, and for everyone else affected by this disease.

Purple Power is raising money for organisations working across research, awareness, diagnosis, treatment and support. Every donation helps give people affected by pancreatic cancer something extraordinarily precious:

More life.

Pancreatic Cancer UK

Funds research, campaigns for change, and supports people living with pancreatic cancer and their families.

Registered charity no. 1112708Visit site

Pancreatic Cancer Action

Works to improve survival through earlier diagnosis, and to improve quality of life for people affected.

Registered charity no. 1137689Visit site

PLANETS Cancer Charity

Funds support groups, new treatments and research for pancreatic, liver, colorectal, abdominal and neuroendocrine cancers.

Registered charity no. 1175572Visit site

Purple Power supports the three UK charities behind Purple Lights for pancreatic cancer. Donations through JustGiving go to Pancreatic Cancer UK; Secret Room ticket proceeds, after venue costs, are shared across all three.

Help spread Purple Power

Donate. Walk. Share.
Talk. Wear purple.

DonateWhatever you can, however big or small.Sponsor the miles → Join me for some Purple MilesPick a day in November and walk a stretch with me.Walk with me → Send me somewhere interestingOr introduce me to somebody I should meet to share Life stories.Make an introduction → Tell me what makes you feel aliveOne line is plenty. It may end up on the ribbon.Send your answer →

Tell somebody about pancreatic cancer. Together, let’s spread one purple ribbon across Yorkshire and raise a ridiculous amount of money in celebration of something none of us should ever take for granted.

Purple Jen in a purple top and white headphones, arms flung wide, mid-cheer

In Rachel’s corner

Purple Jen

Head of Logistics, Shenanigans and Health & Safety.

Hannah in a white crash helmet, purple dress and a purple jewelled necklace

Hannah

Responsible Adult. Governance and assurance.

Jane as a golden superhero, smiling, hair blowing

Jane

Lawyer, uber-connector, reluctant wingwoman.

Ruby and Bella seen from behind, heads together, long brown hair

Ruby & Bella

Tech, TikTok, videography and side-eyes.