Nestor takes on The MoonWalk, in memory of his mum

“I am doing The MoonWalk London 2022 in memory of my mother who passed away 11 years ago.

My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer aged 60. We come from a little island called Lesbos in Greece, but I moved to the UK 30 years ago. My mum still lived in Lesbos and she had to take a 14-hour ferry to Athens every two weeks to receive her radiotherapy - then chemotherapy. It was really hard, but her faith gave her the boost that she needed while she was going through her treatment.

She had to do the journey to Athens for a long time but eventually she was transferred to the local hospital on the island, which was wonderful. They looked after her as if she was in a private health hospital and she received fantastic care. In return, my mum took the doctors and nurses eggs and fruit from the farm – she didn’t have to – that was just her way of saying “thank you” to the doctors and nurses looking after her.

Mum was coming towards the end of her treatment when they sadly found she had secondary breast cancer and it had spread to her liver. A month and a half after she was given the diagnosis, she passed away.

Thankfully, I was able to get to Greece and spend a month with her before she died. I had spoken to her doctors and they said I should spend as much time as possible with her because she didn’t have long left. I am so pleased I did.

I was very close to my mum, so even 11 years later, I can’t say you ever get over losing a parent. You have good days and bad days but there is always something missing. It is good in a way because you always think of happy times with them.

I work at a school in Kent in the catering team, I am the only male, but we have a wonderful time. We have a very supportive boss and colleagues. I am very blessed to have a job and enjoy it.

One lunchtime my colleague, Louisa, mentioned that she was thinking of doing The MoonWalk by herself. We all said “we would love to do it with you as a team.” Everyone in our team has friends and family who have lost someone to cancer. That is why we all decided that The MoonWalk would be a wonderful thing to do.

I especially wanted to do The MoonWalk as it was coming up to my mum’s 11^th anniversary since she passed away. It’s a great cause and I wanted to do it for my mum and all the other people who have lost their life to cancer and their loved ones. You hope and pray that research will discover a new treatment or drug.

My daughter has just started at university, studying biomedical science. She was very close to her Yiayia, grandmother in Greek, and wanted to help others within the medical profession and research. My wife and I are very proud of her.

Everyone has their story, but this is the story of me and my mum. I was very, very close to her and her death did affect me, but I know she is with us and that is the main thing. I talk to her sometimes and just say “give us strength and courage to go on”.

We might not be able to see those who are no longer here, but they are around us, they never truly leave us”.

Thank you for sharing your story Nestor and we look forward to seeing you and your team at The MoonWalk London 2022!

If you feel inspired to unite with us against breast cancer... check out our challenges here and if you would like to share your story with us, please email us and we will be in touch.