I'm sat here trying to write something in this box but I just don't have the words. I lost my best friend Rachel and the long and short of it is that I am trying to make something good come of something bad.

It is times like this that I am going to let my actions do the talking. I am going to run The Great North Run. It will be hard and there will probably be blood, sweat and tears. If knowing the story will encourage you to donate then please visit my blog https://itsarunderfullife.wordpress.com/about/

So the good coming from the bad, is that I am fundraising for Maggie's, as I do not think that anybody facing cancer should have to do it without the type of support offered from the centres. What I felt after visiting a centre with Rachel, is that the charity have a way of seeing the whole person and their loved ones, and treat them as humans, when at times through this, it felt like that disappeared all too easily for other professionals involved. I also can not describe the difference it makes stepping in to a warm and inviting safe haven, which is their centres, from the stark contrast from a cold and clinical hospital. Rachel's words to me after leaving a centre for the first time were 'Good decision, Jones'.