Each fortnight we ask users to tell us their Give as you Live story. Today, Claire Walker describes her experience;
“I was introduced to Give as you Live™ in November by a good friend who knows my husband is very ill with colon cancer (stage 4). I’ve done parachute jumping, firewalking, running, marathon walks, and I’ve regularly badgered family, friends and colleagues for sponsorship. With the current family pressures taking up so much of my time, Give as you Live™ offers a completely different and easy approach to fundraising – I just raise funds while doing my normal shopping online. This is how it has worked for me.
“I work full-time, have 3 children and so I do much of my shopping online after 9.30pm – as do many Mums. I book holidays online, house and car insurance online and of course just recently I racked up many purchases of Christmas presents.
“I downloaded the Give as you Live™ application apprehensively. Will this slow down my pc? (No it didn’t). Will this muck up all my searches? (No it doesn’t). Will this be really distracting and annoying? (No it isn’t).
“I chose Beating Bowel Cancer as my chosen charity and began shopping. My first purchase was wine from Wine Hound. All went to plan, the wine arrived at home and I’d clocked up my first purchase. I then bought a new printer for home from John Lewis and a couple of Christmas presents from Firebox and Send It. It was so satisfying to see that for relatively no extra effort, and from great retailers, I had raised £10 for Beating Bowel Cancer in just 4 fairly minor purchases. The instant gratification is addictive.
“My New Year’s Resolution is to continue to Give as you Live™ all year round – I reckon given my existing online spending habits I can easily raise £500 in 2011 for Beating Bowel Cancer. The next big purchase coming up is a replacement washing machine and then a holiday.
“Please try it. You have nothing to lose and much to give – for no extra cost other than the couple of minutes it takes to download an app.”
Anyone can use the Give as you Live™ App. Download now and start raising funds for a cause close to you.
Tell us your experience by commenting below.
Tags: Firebox, Give as you Live App, Give as you Live Experience, John Lewis
Everyclick blog 
26/02/2011 at 6:39 PM |
Hello. I developed bowel cancer (level 4) just over 6 years ago. Had the op and chemotherapy which I disliked. I also took advice from a naturopath (an M.D.) who gave me a couple of herbal solutions (a tincture and a tea) as well as spirulina and advice to take fresh organic carrot juice. I also took vitamin C and stopped other foods like red meat and those based on refined flour. I was always confident of this approach and only took the chemo as my wife was understandably afraid. Fortunately the 4 lymph nodes that were removed with cancer must have been the only ones.
I found the MacMillan service excellent and was advised to go for Disability Living Allowance (highest level) which helped greatly as my wife is also disabled with arthritis. You have to be told about this. Having attained a better physical state long after the chemo I have stopped the DLA.
I have been told my relaxed positive attitude is unusual and I surprised the surgeon. However, whilst I have had a successful life, I also have a wife and (now) 16 year old daughter so I don’t particularly want t go yet and there are some more things I want to do with my life. I feel very fortunate to have discovered it early enough for the treatment to succeed and my heart goes out to anyone who did not. My father and son both died of cancer (lung and liver respectively) so it is a familiar story. I wish Claire and her husband all the strength they need to get through this difficult time.
I will have a look at the app.