Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. You can donate from £2 and anonymously if you wish. We are also collecting for Mesothelioma UK at the Leominster/Hereford Kite Festival 2012 at Berrington Hall on July 21 and 22 (http://www.kitefestival.org.uk/).

My father passed away December 2011 having been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the asbestos related cancer, only two months before. He was only 60 years old, had not yet retired and still had many plans in his personal and work life, and much to live for.

Dad was such an inspirational man to me. Calm, caring, funny and wonderful, he was an amazing Dad. After having worked in horticulture most of his life, he was happiest when he had his own kite shop in the 90's called Way-on-High. He was part of a kite formation team called The Air Heads.

In 1998 he formed Start Business which helped hundreds of people to set up their own businesses. As an award winning business advisor he first published the book Going Self-Employed in 2008 which has just been updated.

In 2009 2,321 people died due to mesothelioma in Great Britain - around 100 more than died due to road accidents in the same year. And rightly so, there are campaigns to improve road safety and efforts made to reduce these fatalities - reducing exposure to asbestos, and deaths from mesothelioma should also be pursued. Apparently the Twin Towers in New York were full of asbestos and there are fears of an epidemic as more and more people exposed to asbestos, whether from the Twin Towers, or elsewhere decades ago, develop this cancer.

Apparently, according to various sources, mesothelioma can take decades, maybe up to 60 years, to develop. Many cases, including my father's, are diagnosed too late to effectively treat. He did not receive any chemotherapy or radiotherapy. It is often aggressive with a poor prognosis. More information can be found at the Mesothelioma UK website.

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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.