Most of my friends will already know that my dad is living with prostate cancer. He was diagnosed in November 2015 and given a prognosis of 5-7years. I may be facing the prospect of losing the best man in my life by the time I'm 30.

I'm running this race not only as a personal challenge  (always wanted to run a real marathon), but in honour of my dad and millions of others who are living (or have passed) with this illness. It affects many thousands of men every year, yet many men don't bother thinking about getting tested because it shows little in the way of symptoms. Some victims are even discouraged from being tested by their own GPs as they are 'too young'.

My dad (aged 70 at the time) had no symptoms, just a niggly pain in his leg. He went to the doctor, who gave him a blood test, followed by a PSA test. A high PSA result would be 4 or more. My dad's was 775. The pain in his leg indicated metastasis (spread from the prostate) and tests concluded the cancer was an aggressive one.

Don't let men suffer through this without helping to cure it or at least treat the symptoms so that suffering is lessened.

I'm also hoping to raise money for Ochre, The Oesophageal Cancer charity, in memory of my Uncle Nico who sadly lost a short but devastating battle with the illness. Not enough is known about detecting oesophageal cancer, so it is creeping up the charts as one of the most lethal cancers with many diagnoses coming only when the growth is large enough to stop someone eating or drinking. It is a horrific thing to witness and awareness is needed. Please donate here: 

https://www.justgiving.com/Michael-Ellison25

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. 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.