Thank you for visiting my JustGiving page.

Each year for the past 4 years, I have set myself a personal challenge to raise as much money as possible for an incredible charity that supports the families of children diagnosed with cancer - Young Lives vs Cancer (YLVC). In 2021, I ran both the Berlin and London marathons on back-to-back weekends. This year I am pushing myself further and will be taking on my biggest personal challenge to date: to run 4 world marathon majors over 6 weekends. They are:

Berlin Marathon on 25 September 2022

London Marathon on 2 October 2022

Chicago Marathon on 9 October 2022

New York City Marathon on 6 November 2022

**Update - November 2022**

Having completed the 4 marathons, I am now upgrading this to run 7 world marathon majors in 7 months. In addition, next year, I will run:

Toyko Marathon on 5 March 2023

Boston Marathon on 17 April 2023

London Marathon on 23 April 2023   

I know that the cost of living crisis is affecting everyone right now, but for families who are living with a child diagnosed with cancer, it can only be described as a real life nightmare. Often, the parents do not have any choice but to give up work to care for a sick child; to pay for travel in order to receive treatment; and to pay for accommodation for extended periods of time while a child receives life-saving hospital care. YLVC provides a lifeline to these families through financial support, providing free accommodation in one of their ‘Homes from Home’ for the duration of the treatment; and social workers to provide emotional and practical support to the child while they endure months or even years of gruelling treatment.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis has hit the charity sector hard. Charities have had no government support, despite promises that were made. Every day, YLVC battles with financial pressure while working hard to provide the care and support that these families desperately need.

YLVC supported my high school friends Sara and Richard whose son, Georg, was diagnosed with Leukaemia at the age of 4. Young Lives vs Cancer supported them throughout the 3 years of treatment. Happily Georg is now cancer free, but the work of YLVC carries on.

I am self-funding all of my overseas events and have therefore set myself a fundraising target to match my own costs. It would have been all too easy to have just given the money to YLVC, but for me, this is just as much about raising awareness of the work done by this fantastic charity as it is about financial support.

Thank you for your continued kindness and generosity.

David

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.