Family Heroes Case Study: Nicola Graham, National Family Hero 2013

Nicola Graham won the National Family Hero in 2013 for her commitment and dedication to her charity Reuben’s Retreat. Nicola’s world fell apart when her son, Reuben sadly died when he was 23 months old to an undiagnosed and highly aggressive brain tumour. Nicola and Reuben’s dad, Mike, didn’t want Reuben’s death to be in vain and wanted something good to come out of this tragedy. They decided to set themselves a goal of raising £1 million in 23 months to set up a retreat called ‘Rubens Retreat.’ Nicola is a real hero who has chosen to honour her son’s memory by selflessly helping others. With the retreat now bought and renovation plans in place we caught up with Nicola to see what winning a Family Hero meant to her;

I was thrilled to be nominated and to know that the valuable work we were all doing would be recognised too.

At the award ceremony in London I could not believe it when I scooped the National Family Hero award.  I was humbled and privileged to be in the same room as those winners, it was incredible, I never expected to win, never....

The Family Heroes ceremony was lovely and we were all very well looked after by the team.  I was so pleased to share the experience and have family and close friends come and enjoy the party too.

The National Hero award is a lovely accolade and beautiful award. Awards such as these, attract attention and that’s a great thing for our cause.

One year on and alot has happened. We have now bought our retreat and are busy behind the scenes fundraising to renovate it and turn it into what we need it to be for our beneficiaries.

We are constantly striving to raise more money to ensure the retreat is the best it can be. We are all looking forward to the Manchester 10k next May 2015 as it will be our biggest run to date, if anyone would like to join our 300+ strong team please register run@reubensretreat.org

If you are thinking about nominating someone this year I would not hesitate to nominate, we are really proud to have this award as part of Reuben's new journey.

Please visit the Reuben’s Retreat website for the latest news from Nicola and don’t forget to dust off those trainers and register for their run. The charity are inches away from their target of £1million and Reuben’s Retreat becoming a reality, every donation helps!