When Joan was growing up in Barcelona, he remembers a nurse who looked after his grandfather at the end of his life.

“I was inspired by the care that nurse gave to my Grandad,” remembers Joan “It was very sad when he passed away but the care I saw him receive during his last few months has stayed with me. This is what made me want to be a nurse.”

Joan trained as a nurse in Spain and moved to the UK to further his nursing career. He’s worked in many nursing roles and currently works for NHS England Choices College, a specialist college providing educational support and internship courses for young adults with learning disabilities, difficulties and autism.

“Nursing is such a rewarding career and I love making a difference to people’s lives,” says Joan “but it’s also a tough job a lot of the time and colleagues fall into hardship. I believe in supporting them so they can carry on doing what they love and making a positive impact on people’s lives.”

Joan himself was finding things tough a few years ago and reached out for support.

“I was struggling to make ends meet,” he remembers, “But I got help from a nursing charity and that meant a lot to me, it was a lifeline. Once I managed to get back onto my feet, I promised to repay the favour and fundraise to help other nurses in my situation.

Joan chose to fundraise for Cavell, the charity supporting the nursing and midwifery family through tough times. Since 2016, Joan has taken on physical challenges like running marathons, completing 10km on a space-hopper and becoming a regular donor to Cavell. He’s raised in excess of £13,000 so far to support nursing and midwifery colleagues in crisis.

For 2024, Joan is taking on his next mammoth task, the 3-2-1 Challenge!

“With my partner Lucy, we will be taking on the 24-hour National 3 Peaks challenge,” explains Joan, and “two marathons in Chicago and New York and one Ultra marathon in my hometown of Chesterfield.

“I think the hardest part will be the Ultra marathon. We’ve never done one and we are going into unknown territory. Let’s hope our bodies will hold out!”

Joan and Lucy take on the 53km (33 mile) Ultra marathon in May, the 3 Peaks challenge in August and their US city marathons in October and November.

What lessons has Joan learned from his previous physical fundraising challenges?

“Don’t give up!” he says “I have to learn from my mistakes and keep going. I’ve done challenges with Lucy before so having that mutual support is crucial for both of us.

“And what motivates me is the fact that the money I raise makes a huge difference to other nurses and midwives, like it did for me a few years ago when I needed it.”

Joan has advice for anyone thinking of taking on a challenge to raise money…

“Be creative!  A lot of people fundraise so make sure you stand out and tell your personal story to reach out to people. Be genuine and visible and use social media a lot to communicate with potential fundraisers. It’s worked well for me.”

If you’d like to support Joan during his 3-2-1 Challenge for 2024, visit his JustGiving page here https://www.justgiving.com/team/WeRCrackers

You can follow his progress on social media at #The321Challenge