Please excuse the dramatic nature of the opening of this JustGiving page; and please also excuse that this is the third time in the last five years where I've asked for donations to a cause.

But on the 5th of October I stood and watched, as many people did, a 15 year old young man carry his fathers coffin up the aisle of a church.

The man being carried was called Cliff Hammond; he was 52 and two weeks before that date he died of cancer after a long battle with the disease.

To say his battle was 'brave' I think almost does a disservice to Cliff; his battle manifested itself as most things did with Cliff in the form of exceptional (and sometimes fairly disgusting) humour, resilience and a refusal to let it get him down. What was telling is that when he passed away most people said to me that they didn't realise he was poorly, but that's because Cliff refused to let his illness get the better of him. He laughed, and worked, to the end.

He leaves behind Andre, an exceptionally strong lady and two sons who are an absolute credit to Cliff and have taken on his stoic, brilliant attitude to life and, god help us, his sense of humour. 

He also leaves behind his colleagues and friends at ArtiCAD, a company he helped launch and was the Sales Director for. He loved his job, his colleagues, clients and his friends and he was an intrical part of the setup as well as the industry he worked in; he will always be sorely missed by all.

On the 28th of April 2019, I will be running the London Marathon in Cliff's name, raising funds for the World Cancer Research Fund; a charity that specialises in the prevention of cancer.

Since 1990, World Cancer Research Fund has invested £103 million into cancer prevention and survival research; I'm hoping to add to that so we can try and stop people losing their loved ones to this awful disease.

Cliff was a colleague, a mentor and above all a friend and whilst I know he will think I am out of my mind taking on this run, I hope I can do him proud. Please donate what you can; every penny goes a long way!

Thanks for taking the time to read this x