Lewis Moody – Co-founder

What’s your proudest moment at The Foundation? Definitely being involved with the HeadSmart campaign and the part The Foundation has played on halving diagnosis times for children and young people with a brain tumour is a real highlight. Reaching £1m raised was another fantastic milestone to achieve. I really enjoy engaging new people with The Foundation and The Charity and raising awareness of the challenges faced by people like Oliver Highway, and all those living with a brain tumour. I also love inspiring people to take on a challenge to see what they are capable of outside of their usual office work environment. I delight in playing a part in showing that they can achieve much more physically and charitably when they work together. Seeing people overcome their fears and thrive as they complete a challenge gives me a real buzz. What’s on your bucket list? A lot! There’s so much more we want to do with The Foundation and The Charity to raise more money. Over the next 10 years we want to strive to change outcomes for those people diagnosed with a brain tumour. Challenge wise, I would love to take on and complete the Yucon Arctic Ultra as I started it a few years ago, and have the frostbite to prove it, but didn’t manage to finish it. I definitely don’t want to do a skydive though as I hate heights!

Annie Moody – Co-founder

What’s your proudest moment at The Foundation? It’s hard to pick just one! Being nominated for a Brain Tumour Charity award, hitting the £1m mark… What really sticks in my mind is an emotional moment from one of our Family Days. A courageous woman conquered the high ropes in her last few months. She was so proud of herself – as were her husband and two children. I’m grateful we were able to fund such a special day for their family; one I hope they’ll always remember. What’s on your bucket list? I don’t dare say; you’ll try to sign me up! I’m not sure I can top climbing Mount Kili, but I bet another walking challenge or abseil will happen one day…

Oliver Highway – Ambassador

What inspired you to join The Lewis Moody Foundation? A few years ago, my son – Elliot – and I went to a nearby Family Day supported by the Foundation. We met Lewis and Annie, then took part in some amazing activities. On the way home, we were smiling and laughing about the day we’d just had. That’s when I knew I wanted to support The Foundation as much as I could. I’ve been a proud member of the team ever since. What’s on your bucket list? There’s an ambition I’ve had for a while but not quite had the courage to do. I’d love to organise and complete a walking challenge with some close friends – the equivalent of climbing my own mountain! The aim is to confront, and succeed in, a challenge that will give me strength and raise awareness of the much-needed work the Foundation does.

Tyron Mills – Ambassador

What’s your proudest moment at The Foundation? It would have to be organising The Clay Pigeon shoot, along with Lola. It’s a popular event that’s now coming up to its fifth year. The shoot has created some wonderful memories so far, but it has also raised plenty of awareness around the Foundation’s work. I’m glad this has inspired other people to help. What’s on your bucket list? Right now, completing The Lions Tour Challenge next year – although Mount Kilimanjaro or the Amazon Survival Challenge would have to be on the list as well.

Rob Ward – Ambassador

What inspired you to join The Lewis Moody Foundation? My cousin Neil Counihan told me about The Lewis Moody Foundation when he was embarking on one of the Foundation’s numerous expeditions (on this occasion, the epic Headsouth voyage to the South Pole). Neil told me about the amazing work that Lewis, Annie and the rest of the team do and The Foundation’s affiliation with The Brain Tumour Charity which is a cause very close to my heart…. and my head! In December of 2013, I was given the devastating news that I had a brain tumour – a life changing moment that brought my own mortality into sharp focus.  I was 37 at the time, happily married, a father of 5 beautiful children and very scared. As a result of this experience, and getting to understand the condition in more detail, I quickly realised that there were numerous and significant hurdles to overcome when it comes to treating brain tumours.  For me, The Lewis Moody Foundation was a perfect fit to address the challenges faced by the people who are given this diagnosis, with specific focus on increasing awareness and greater fundraising. What’s on your bucket list? Now that’s a tough one!!  I have been fortunate to have done some fantastic things already in my life, but having gone through the experience I have, the most important thing to me is health and happiness of my family so on that basis, I would willingly forgo seeing the Northern Lights or Skydiving! What’s your proudest moment at The Foundation? In September 2019, myself and my wife, Aisling, arranged a charity ball on behalf of the Lewis Moody Foundation.  It was a fantastic evening and I am delighted to say that we managed to raise £65,000 which is a number that far exceeded my expectations.

Tom Croft – Ambassador

What inspired you to join The Lewis Moody Foundation? Getting involved with Lewis, Annie and The Foundation for me was an easy decision. Seeing the work that they have both put in so far and the ridiculous situations Lewis has been putting himself in, gave me no excuse but to get invoved! As former team mates at Leicester Tigers, you’d happily back one another in order to achieve a goal. Family is what everything was built upon! This is why I feel The Foundation has such an impact on the lives it touches- family us at the core! I, like many sportsmen and women, have a young family and the indisputable facts regarding brain tumours is reason enough for me to help where I can, to raise awareness and much needed funds. I am looking forward to getting stuck in to fundraising with Moodos and suporting my mate on his incredible journey!!

Alan Chambers – Challenge Leader

What inspired you to get involved with The Lewis Moody Foundation? Lewis & Annie… after I had an emotional visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital with them both. I saw what a huge difference the early intervention of identifying a brain tumor had on the whole family and I realised we could help make a difference by connecting adventure, sports and fundraising to help highlight the profile of the research and The Foundation. I had an opportunity to help grow The Foundation’s family through my love for adventure. What’s your proudest moment at The Foundation? Guiding The Foundation to the ends of the Earth is incredibly special and it shows nothing is beyond reach with some positive determination. But there isn’t one single stand out moment, there are millions of tiny moments on the challenges that people don’t see themselves which makes The Foundation so special. Seeing strangers commit to the cause with passion and purpose is pure gold. Selfless acts of kindness and humility when people are in a difficult place, up a mountain, in a polar blizzard across Antarctica, cycling up a monsterous hill, witnessing these acts reminds us that we all have a bigger purpose to fulfill. What’s on your bucket list? We have helped take The Foundation to the Northern and Southern most point on the planet, now we need to conquer the middle. It would be great to create a challenge for The Foundation where we have international teams working together to travel the equator passing the LMF baton team to team, raising global awareness of Brain Tumours and how we can help diagnose earlier. Got to think big….”

Wayne Hoyle – Challenge Leader

What inspired you to get involved with The Lewis Moody Foundation? Brain tumours are the biggest killer of people under the age of 40 in the UK”; I was completely oblivious to this shocking statistic, there wasn’t and still isn’t enough attention focused on the problem. I wanted to help raise the profile. I had been lucky enough to meet Lewis during preparation for England’s World Cup efforts and had always been an admirer of his humility and passion for his country. To see him commit so much of his time to The Foundation, to see him applying those same values to the research into tackling brain tumours, and also hearing the moving stories of some of the incredible individuals living with tumours inspired me to help. What’s your proudest moment at The Foundation? I don’t think about my moments, it’s not about me, but I am proud of the achievements of every single individual who has given their all to complete the challenges, and of their efforts to raise so much for The Foundation in just a few short years. What’s on your bucket list? I would dearly love to see hundreds of people on the start line of a challenge with all the funds raised going to The Lewis Moody Foundation. If you have any ideas and you can help, give me a call.