I was shocked to learn back in the Autumn that Fi, one of my brother's friends, had been diagnosed with a hard-to-treat cancer.

It was no surprise though that her very generous and tight knit group of friends decided to raise money to help find a treatment, by running and cycling to Paris. I was both honoured and determined to help when invited to take part.

Tragically however, on March 5th 2013 Fi lost her short battle with cancer having only been diagnosed 6 months earlier. She leaves behind a loving husband Jon, and a huge amount of friends and family who will greatly miss her.

Fi was diagnosed with secondary cancer of the lungs having initially developed a troublesome cough. Unfortunately, the lung cancer was symptom of another cancer somewhere else in her body that had spread to the lungs. This is known as CUP, or Cancer of Unknown Primary. It is more common than you would think.

Fi bravely undertook chemotherapy to fight the cancer and remained positive despite the gloomy prognosis. Sadly, she lost her battle and was taken suddenly and tragically early. She will be missed terribly.

There is a huge resolve amongst Fi's loved ones to help others affected by CUP. We had hoped to complete this event and share a glass of champagne on the Champs Elysees with Fi at the end. Sadly we won't get that chance but we can still do the event, raise the money, toast her memory and promise to never forget her.

What's CUP?

CUP has been a neglected cancer, despite killing as many people as Breast Cancer in any given year. So with Cancer Research UK, we have set up Friends of Fi to raise money which will fund research into the best treatments for Fi's type of cancer. We need your support to help raise awareness of this awful disease, giving its sufferers a much needed voice & greater chance for survival.

The Event

Our event Arch-to-Arc is our way of remembering Fi, raising awareness of the CUP charity and raising some much needed funds. The goal is to get 31 of us to Paris from London by running and cycling.

I will be cycling the whole 300 or so miles, but this is the vanilla option. There are some loonies who will be running the 80 miles to Dover over 2 days and then joining the rest of us on the ride. Another group will cycle 54 miles and then run a marathon to Dover to meet up with us, all in one day.

Those of you who know me will know that this is the hardest task I will have ever undertaken. I'd actually bet that most of you think I won't do it. However, Fi's cause and this group are great motivators, so as is befitting, I am taking it very seriously and have already lost 2 stone of weight.

So please back me, and my co-"athletes" (including both my brothers) and help raise money to help beat this dreadful, underpublicised disease, in Fi's memory. Any amount is welcome.

Thanks for reading.

Seb and Friends of Fi