Last year, our friend and colleague Mel Jaggard sadly lost her long battle with cancer. 180 men and women from Unilever jumped on static bikes and cycled over 2,000 miles in the inaugural Miles 4 Mel event, helping to raise nearly £6,000 for Get A Head. 

In January of this year, my next door neighbour also lost a very long and brave battle with mouth cancer.

These are recent tragedies, but I've personally known others over the years who have died prematurely due to cancers which have been incurable and so I jumped at the opportunity to participate in this next fantastic event to raise money which will be used for research into cancer treatments.

This May Unilever are taking Miles 4 Mel on the road!  A long, winding and hilly road as it turns out.  I am one of a team who have committed to the huge challenge of cycling 170 miles in two days from Unilever House in Leatherhead to Mel’s home town of Gilwern in South Wales.  The challenge includes a second day of 100 miles and a total ascent of 1800m (that’s the equivalent of climbing Mont Ventoux, one of the most gruelling climbs on the Tour De France). It will no doubt be a tough challenge (*gulp*) but hopefully one equally characterised by fun and laughter. A fitting way to keep Mel’s memory alive and to help fund future research into Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC).

The money raised will help fund a project at the new Molecular Research Centre at The Royal Marsden to understand the genetic pathways of ACC to enable them to find targets and blockers for it. The project will require funding for the next four years at least so your money really will make a huge difference!