If you've got this far you probably know me well enough to have heard my story: in a nutshell, we lost our lovely mum - Christine - at the age of 54, a day before I gave birth to her first grandchild. She now has 6 grandchildren, none of whom she ever got to meet, and she would have been an awesome granny. 

Mum was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in early 2000, she'd been a bit unwell for a while by then, but it took some time for anyone to click that her symptoms added up to Ovarian Cancer. It's hard to diagnose,  the symptoms - stomach pain, bloating, difficulty eating, frequent weeing - are quite general, and no effective screening method exists. This means that diagnosis and treatment often starts late, and hence survival rates are rubbish. Of the 295k women diagnosed each year, only half survive beyond 5 years - mum didn't even make 2. 

Ovarian Cancer Action funds research across prevention, early detection and treatment to transform how long and how well women with Ovarian Cancer live. They are profiling the research they fund throughout the month of March (https://ovarian.org.uk/news-and-blog/); there was also a really interesting feature on genetic testing on BBC2's DNA Family Secrets on Tuesday 9th.

I'm fundraising for them so me, my sister, my daughter, my niece, my friends and women the world over won't succumb to this cruel cancer and lose the chance to live long and live well.  

 At the beginning of last year I decided to try and lose weight, addressing a lifelong tendency to weight gain, with the awareness that obesity is a risk factor for many diseases including Ovarian Cancer. Lockdown (including Iain not commuting to London) helped me to more consistently find time to fit in exercise. And here I find myself a year later 4 stone lighter and fitter than I've been in 20 years (or possibly ever) and able to contemplate half marathons. The sponsorship I'm seeking is for the virtual half marathon on April 11th and (fingers crossed!) the physical race on October 10th - you only have to sponsor me once!

I'm so grateful for your sponsorship for this cause that's so close to my heart, but if you've stuck with me this far down I'm also glad to have reminded you of the symptoms of Ovarian Cancer - absorb them and share them, you could save lives.