My charity work gives me the drive to survive cancer

VOLUNTEERING is a way of life for Mandy Taylor – and a reason to keep going through ten years of cancer treatment.

The business development manager from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, runs a group called Charity Angels which “gifts” volunteering hours to any good cause that needs help.

When the pandemic started, she also joined charity Focus4Hope to prepare and deliver food parcels to 150 elderly residents a week, as well as feeding homeless people in Leeds.

Mandy, 53, below, got the bug for volunteering in 2004 after seeing an appeal to raise £2million for what would become the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.

She said: “I knew I could bake buns and wash cars, so put my hand up to help. I ended up becoming the charity’s first paid staff member and a trustee. It changed my life.”

The mum-of-one has gone on to support countless causes and became even more devoted to helping after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011.

She said: “I believe volunteering is both selfish and selfless. I’ve gained so much from it and the beauty of it is that, unlike a paid job, you can pick and choose what you do and when you do it, to suit your interests.

“I don’t think I would have got through my treatment without it. It has been a distraction, a commitment and an obligation.

“Unfortunately, I was recently told my cancer was terminal but I have volunteering events booked in for next year and it gives me the drive to survive.

“For me, it’s about the little wins. You can’t change the world... but you can make a difference.”

You can follow Mandy on Twitter at @Charity_Angels