Ben Collen passed away on Saturday 19th May 2018, following 15 months of treatment for a rare form of bone cancer.

If you’re visiting this page you may have known Ben. If you didn’t, he was a conservation scientist, who had a big heart, an even bigger smile, and an unfailing sense of humour. He was warm, funny, and brilliant. He lived just outside London with his wife, Alanna, and their young daughter, Ottilie. Ben had just turned 40 when he died.

Ben was also my PhD supervisor. He carried me through 3 years of stress and anxiety, for which I’ll be forever grateful. I’m even more thankful for his friendship, which I treasured more than he probably knew.

I wanted to do something to remember Ben by and to show him I cared, so on 28th April 2019 I’m running the London marathon for the Bone Cancer Research Trust, who support the development of new treatments for this poorly understood disease and offer hope to those affected by it.

I've been unreliably informed that Ben once ran a marathon in a pink tutu, so it's been suggested I should do the same. I’ve yet to see any proof of this, but whatever happens I will try to finish it and raise some money for the BCRT in the process.

Any donation you can make would be very much appreciated, and will be added to the phenomenal amount that Alanna has already raised, via our Just Giving team (see link above).

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.