Dear Friends

Two years on and my blog is back! If you’re still subscribed, you’ve probably forgotten who I am…but I have a big announcement and more news will follow on so it seemed only right for the blog to make a return.

So how do I say this? I’m conscious that some people already know, and some people don’t. I’ve been dropping hints for a while but this is possibly the first time I’m officially ‘coming out’.

No, I’m not pregnant. I’m going to Everest: to try and break a world record and become the first woman to achieve the Pond to Peak Challenge – which is swimming the English Channel (done) and then climbing to the top of the world!

I’m possibly even less of a mountaineer than a swimmer. But this journey started four years ago when I climbed Kilimanjaro a few months after I crossed the Channel. Since then I’ve been in training for the next biggest challenge of my life. I leave for Nepal at the end of March.

At Fertility Fest @ The Fertility Show last year, Gabby Vautier (my wonderful friend and Fertility Fest Co-Director) interviewed me about the Challenge – you can watch that interview for the first time on the homepage of my website: www.jessicahepburn.com 

So there I’ve said it. I’m Everest out and proud. But before I head back to the gym (me and the Stairmaster are getting to know each other very well) I just want to say something else about why I’m doing it. Yes, it’s about continuing to raise awareness of the uphill struggle of infertility and IVF – another of the toughest mental and physical endurance feats on the planet. And it’s also about inspiring people to live as big and bravely as possible whatever their fertility story might be. But most of all, if I’m totally honest, it’s about me. I’m not the mother I wanted to be. That’s hard and always will be. But maybe I can be something else. Maybe I can be Mother Pond To Peak.

Wish me luck.

Jessica