back to Awards & NomineesJane Tomilinson

She is not a celebrity in the conventional sense that she is a movie star or pop star – but became a celebrity through her determination to achieve. Jane Tomlinson CBE raised £1.5 million for charity by completing a series of athletic challenges, despite suffering from terminal cancer. She was told in 2000 her breast cancer was incurable and that she had just six months to live.

She then dedicated her life to raising money for charity, going on to complete a number of fundraising challenges, including the Great North Run, London Marathon and the Ironman UK Triathlon.  She died in 2007, aged 43, but the work continues in her name on Jane’s Appeal.

She is inspirational and aspirational in that she pushed herself to seemingly impossible limits. And she has left a legacy of fundraising which makes her a deserving nominee.