When Jake Hargrave suddenly lost all of his hair last year, he made it his mission to fundraise for a children’s cancer charity.

Aged 15, Jake lost all of his hair in 2015 as the result of an auto immune disorder. Whilst this knocked his confidence, Jake decided to look at the positives of his situation. Feeling lucky that he did not have a more serious underlying health issue such as cancer, Jake’s mission to raise funds for a children’s cancer charity by taking part in the Great North Swim began!

Unfortunately at 15 years old Jake was too young to take part in the 2015 challenge – instead handing the fundraising baton to his Mum Jacqui who raised over £2000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust. However, Jake set his sights on the 2016 challenge, which took place once he’d turned 16.

So earlier this June, Jake found himself swimming (with a newly returned full head of hair) in Lake Windermere alongside other Great North Swim participants, to raise funds and awareness for Candlelighters. To date, his determination and hard work has raised a staggering total of over £1000 for Candlelighters! He has also been interviewed by H2Open Magazine to raised invaluable awareness of childhood cancer and Candlelighters across the country.

Here at Candlelighters we would like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to Jake for all of his hard work training and fundraising and to everyone that has supported him along the way! The money Jake has raised through this challenge will make a great difference to those Yorkshire families affected by childhood cancer.