Writing for recovery
813. Alison Hitchcock
814. Brian Greenley
Alison Hitchcock and Brian Greenley, from Berkshire, are the founders of ‘From Me to You’, the charity which encourages people to write letters to people with an illness who are feeling particularly isolated and vulnerable.
Alison wrote over 100 letters to Brian whilst he went through cancer treatment and this not only cemented their friendship but also gave Brian escape from his gruelling rounds of chemotherapy. The pair established the charity in 2016, after Brian’s unexpected recovery from Stage 4 Bowel Cancer, to encourage others to provide support through letter writing. To date they have inspired over 500 letters to be sent to cancer patients across the country who are struggling with the illness.
In a personal letter to Alison and Brian, Prime Minister Theresa May said:
“Together, your personal story has inspired hundreds of supportive letters to be written to those suffering from cancer. You should be incredibly proud of using your own experience and recovery from the illness to help others in a positive way with the innovative ‘From Me to You’ project.”
Alison and Brian said:
“One of the aims of ‘From Me to You’ is to create a way for people to connect and for it to be accessible to almost everyone. We are delighted that the Prime Minister is supporting our letter-writing initiative.”