Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my fundraising page and reading this. 

I was 8 years old when my Daddy, Peter Underwood, died after a long battle against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. He had had years of chemotherapy, hospital visits, infections, hair loss and all the horrible side effects that come with treatment for Leukaemia. He was 35 years old when he died. My Nanny then died 4 years later from Leukaemia also.

So when I stood at my Dad's grave a few months ago, Harry said to me "Mum, you are the same age now that your Dad was when he died"... well, you can imagine the lump in my throat and the tears rolling down my cheeks. Shortly after that I was out for a run when I decided to do an event in his memory and raise some money to help research into better treatments and cures for Leukaemia. I have run 6 marathons now but never one that was purely in my Dad's memory, so this is it. Los Angeles Marathon here I come on the 20th March 2011!! And it is going to be a challenge. I struggle when running in the heat so this will be a real tough one for me.

I deeply appreciate all the immense support I have already had from friends and family and I know lots of you have supported me before in my fundraising but this is a truly special thing for me and I will be so very grateful for every penny that you can spare.

Rachelxx