Anyone who knows me knows I open my mouth and words come out which I’m then bound to. Despite having done no running for a great many years I have pledged to do the Great North Run.

This won’t be easy for me. I’m not young, I’m not fit, I have no free time but...compared to what my sister Gill did this will be a breeze.

Gillian died of ovarian cancer in January 2018. Despite being very ill for a number of years, she found the strength to challenge herself every day. She walked the length of Hadrian’s Wall, climbed Ben Nevis, walked the Northumbrian coast... she never stood a chance against her diagnosis but she was determined to keep living. I was surprised to find she was the strongest woman I knew.

I am doing this so that every other woman who gets this diagnosis doesn’t face the same knowledge of the inevitable. Only through research can we diagnose earlier, find treatments and improve the quality of life we have with  those treatments. And only through awareness can we spot it in ourselves and our loved ones early.

Please give whatever you can to Target Ovarian Cancer. Thank you xx