Kim Barker fundraising for Lifeline Aotearoa

By the time I step into the cage on December 5th I will have completed 10 weeks of intensive training. This has involved strength and conditioning, Kick Boxing, Ju Jitsu and Wrestling. I would like to donate the proceeds of my fundraising and sponsorship to Lifeline Aotearoa.

**!! 100% of the money raised here is being donated to Lifeline Aotearoa, which is a 24 hour/7 days a week telephone counseling service, they offer multiple services, and I think do amazing working within New Zealand.!!**

Currently i am 29, I'm a second year nursing student, and working part time at a cafe.

A year ago I was avoiding exercise, getting tired walking stairs, eating what ever I wanted, and crying in the changing rooms of stores because clothes didn’t fit me at all.

At 97.1 kilos, I was the heaviest I had ever been in my adult life.

But my story is not one of sadness and depression though, but one of learning to become more comfortable in my own skin, and test the limits of what I can make my body do. I have always been a performer and at my heaviest, I was on stage burlesquing, doing life modeling and not being ashamed of the curves I had and the size I was, but something just didn’t feel quite right.

Over the next year and a half, I started to change my life, i became paleo, and joined an unconventional gym called AM I FIT, and began my journey to a fitter healthier me.

I have lost 30+kgs, and am feeling amazing!

I always need to be challenged, and have new goals to work towards, so i decided to enter the BUCKET LIST MMA CHARITY FIGHT, run through olympic fight centre in Mosgil, its a 10 week intensive training camp to prepare you for an MMA fight on the 5th of December.

MMA is a full contact sport that’s carried out inside a cage. It requires knowledge of multiple martial arts, as well as boxing. We are all classified as novice fighters, and there are plenty of rules in place to keep us as safe and as unharmed as possible, (e.g. you fight in your weight range, with someone of similar ability as you). I have never done any contact sports before, let alone MMA, but so far am really enjoying the training, which is 10 times a week!! I feel like this is an amazing opportunity that I have been presented with.

It would be really amazing if anyone could help me with the fundraising for me to be able to try to achieve this new and amazing goal.

Thank you,

Kim xx