It would’ve been my Dad’s 67th birthday yesterday (2nd December), had it not been for his life being cut way too early, from stage 4 bowel cancer 10 years ago.

I was always so proud of my Dad growing up, he was an extremely hardworking, brave, loyal man with integrity, who would do anything for anyone. He helped prevent someone from committing suicide, intervened when he saw a man being beaten up in London and ended up being stabbed in the leg as a result. At my Dad’s wake I had a number of people come up to me to say my Dad always made time for them no matter how busy he was. 

I miss him everyday and after he died I always wanted to do something incredible and raise a lot of money in the hope of preventing others from suffering the consequences of a late diagnosis.

By the time my Dad had received a diagnosis the tumour in his bowel was the size of a grapefruit and had spread to his brain, he had operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy simultaneously. Bless him being the stoic man he was, he wanted to carry on and work throughout, but he sadly died six months later aged 56 on 24th April 2012.

I used to watch the London Marathon in awe of these incredible individuals who would run the gruelling 26 miles thinking one day I’d love to take part in his memory, but to be honest I never really had the self belief that I could do it. I never used to enjoy running, I’m not built like a runner, I haven’t been running for years, this does not come naturally to me at all, and I will not be undertaking anything like this again. But since the pandemic I’ve managed to seek solace in going for runs (not regularly mind you), however I know time is ticking and now I’ve managed to get a couple of half marathons under my belt I feel like it’s a now or never for me to fulfil my goal. 

Luckily I managed to be offered a charity place in London Marathon 2023 with Bowel Cancer UK and fittingly will be running the day before my Dad’s 11th anniversary, in return I need to raise a minimum of £2,500 for them, which I know is a lot of money and especially in these challenging times any donation small or large would be greatly appreciated and you can be assured that your money is going to the UK's leading bowel cancer charity. They're determined to save lives and improve the quality of life of everyone affected by bowel cancer.Your support will help stop people dying of bowel cancer by funding vital services and lifesaving research.