Blog
This is me – september 2023
Dear Friends WHOA (if that’s a word and how you spell it) - what a month I’ve had and what a month I’ve got coming up.Firstly, massive thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered my new book – Save me from the Waves. On announcement day you helped push it to No. 319...
New Book Announcement!
Save me from the Waves!
Dear Friends Well, this is it. The announcement I’ve been promising for months (some might say years…)My new book - Save me from the Waves - an adventure from sea to summit - will be published by Quarto Books on 7 March 2024. It was publicly announced in The...
Happy 14th May
Dear Friends Happy 14th May! Chomolungma | Everest Summit, 14th May 2022 I could not let today go past without marking the fact that this day a year ago I had the privilege of standing / sitting on top of the world. I use the ‘slash’ because obviously I was...
Happy International Women’s Day
Dear Friends Happy International Women’s Day! I haven’t sent a mailing out for a long while. I publicly promise on my website that I don’t email people too often (and do check out my website because I’ve recently updated it). But it’s been nearly a year since I last...
To the top of the world and back again
Dear Friends On Saturday 14th May – five weeks ago today – I had the privilege of standing on the top of the world. Actually, I sat down when I got there. It was 7.30am in the morning; I’d left base-camp six days previously; and had just climbed 13 hours through...
This parting was well made
Hello friends Over the last few months, since I got back from Nepal, I’ve been thinking a lot about journeys and destinations. One of the things I wasn’t anticipating about NOT getting to the summit of Everest was how much it would change my life anyway… In the...
Everest Waits
Dear Friends It’s been two weeks since my Everest expedition was cancelled (well, hopefully postponed). Thank you to everyone who wrote to me with their condolences after they saw my post on social media or read it in the news. And if you didn’t already know, I’m sure...
A Big Announcement – From Pond To Peak
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...
One Month On
It’s 3rd June - exactly a month since my new book, 21 Miles, was published. The actual publication day – the 3rd May – was a bit of an anti-climax. There was no trumpet voluntary, let’s put it that way. But a few days later on 8th May, the book was officially launched...
On Blogging…
After my last blog, one of my best friends rang me. ‘What’s wrong?’ She said as soon as I picked up the phone. 'I can tell something’s wrong from your blog.’ That’s what best friends are good at - knowing the subtext. And then she said something else. ‘You know, when...
Happy Easter
It’s Sunday. Blog day. Another search for words. In just over a month my new book will be published - I promise you there are a lot of words in that. I know I should tell you something about it. Something that will justify the enormity of its birth. The enormity of...
Events Connected
I’ve decided that March must be the month for fertility events. Maybe because it’s supposed to be Spring. Things grow in Spring, but instead we’ve got snow. Already this month, I’ve been at the Southbank Centre's WOW Festival (where I convened a panel on fertility...
Front Page News
One day soon I’m going to write a proper blog. Like the old days. I’m not going to take blog sabbaticals. Or spend Sunday wondering whether anyone will notice if I skip a week. Or question how many words is enough - I know a blog can be too long but can it be too...
From That to This
On Tuesday 6 February at the Bush Theatre we launched Fertility Fest 2018. Hurrah! That picture is of me and my Co-director Gabby at the launch. We’re the two sides of IVF – she’s got toddler twins after four rounds of treatment, I haven’t after eleven. But we both...
Note To Blogging Self!
I did it again. In fact it feels like I'm making a habit of it. Monday morning. A hotel room in Barcelona. And I suddenly remember I’ve forgotten. My blog – the one which I’ve committed to writing every other Sunday (apart from at the end of last year when I took a...
Some People I Love…
It’s Sunday 14 January – exactly a month before Valentine’s Day – so I thought I’d tell you about some people I love – and who will definitely be getting a card from me. I’m going to start with Tracey Sainsbury, senior fertility counsellor at the Lister Fertility...
The Blog is Back!
I’m back! I’ve even overreached my intention. I said I’d return in the new year – and it’s still 2017. Just. I won’t lie (because the truth is important to me), it’s been a difficult couple of months. But I had a lovely Christmas – my mum, my sister, my niece, two...
A Shout Out To My Sherpa
Apologies. This blog is long overdue - it's unlike me, but I have not been entirely myself. I must begin with a shout out to my Sherpa who guided me safely to the top of Island Peak in Nepal. Since I started my mountain madness two years ago with Kilimanjaro, my...
Hello From The Himalayas
Those of you who are eagle-eyed, may have noticed that my blog has skipped a week. In fact, for the first time in four years of writing it, I actually forgot! My excuse being that after a whirlwind of work during September and early October, I boarded a plane for...
Your Blogger Still Needs You
For those of you who might not have read my last blog, perhaps the title of this one needs some explaining. So, if it does, for speed (mine not yours) you can read this. I truly hope this will be my last ‘begging blog’ for a long while. Besides, two weeks today, when...
Jessica Hepburn
Jessica Hepburn is one of the UK’s leading voices on fertility and family, as well as endurance sport (even though she doesn’t have children and is the most unlikely athlete). She has become a pioneer in inspiring people to live as big and bravely as possible when life doesn’t go to plan.