Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In ten weeks time - barring any disasters - I’ll be taking part in the Cardiff Half Marathon 2018, ten years since I ran my first half marathon which was also in Cardiff. I finished that race in floods of tears and begged everyone never to let me put myself through such a tough challenge ever again. And then I got home and completed the entry for my next half marathon. 

Over the last ten years, our family has grown. My writing dreams came true. And like everyone else we’ve had the usual share of trials and tribulations.

My dad would have been thrilled by the additions to the family - adults and babies - but he never got to meet them. He never knew that I became a published author. He wasn’t there to give me a hug and tell me things would work out when times were tough and we miss him at every celebration. We lost Dad to pancreatic cancer in 2005 because by the time the disease revealed itself it was already too late to save him.

You might imagine that over the last ten years, survival rates for pancreatic cancer would have improved, but a three year study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on behalf of Pancreatic Cancer UK published in June this year reveals the shocking lack of progress. Because official survival rates for all pancreatic cancer types have been grouped together, the true figures have been masked. Looked at separately, the study reveals a much poorer survival rate for the most common type of pancreatic cancer with only 3% of patients diagnosed with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma living for five years or more. Three percent.

Research investment has led to outstanding progress for other cancers such as breast and prostate cancers so once again I’m asking you to help me raise funds so that Pancreatic Cancer UK can make a difference to everyone affected by pancreatic cancer.

In 2014 you helped me raise £795.

 In 2016, we raised £576.98

In 2017, we raised £525

To mark the tenth anniversary of my first half marathon, I’m setting an ambitious target of £800. Please help if you can.

Let’s help improve survival rates so that in ten years time more families can be spared the pain and heartbreak of this devastating disease.