Thank you for looking at my fundraising page. I’ll try to keep it brief!

Many of you know that this July I will be doing “Challenge Roth” in Germany. For those who don’t know what this is, it is an  “Ironman” event involving a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride followed by a full marathon, not to mention the 6 months of training leading up to the race itself (including the 112 mile Fred Whitton Challenge). To a lot of my superstar friends that maybe no big deal, but I remember when even walking down stairs used to leave me feeling like a lie down to recover!

I will be raising money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research which is the only UK charity solely dedicated to research into blood cancers. Their life saving work is focused on finding causes, improving diagnosis and treatments and running ground breaking clinical trials for all blood cancer patients. They receive no government funding but do an invaluable job, without which I, and many like me, wouldn’t be here today.

In 2000, waiting for GCSE results and preparing for a trip to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro, I was diagnosed with a rare strain of non-Hodkins lymphoma known as Burkitt’s disease, an extremely aggressive form of cancer accounting for only 2% of all lymphomas. I received treatment over 12 months, involving stays in hospital for chemotherapy and two bouts of surgery and at one point, I was told later, with only a 30% chance of survival. Fortunately, unlike many of the faces I saw regularly in hospital, in 2001I was given the all clear and able to start living the life of a “normal” person.

This summer I will have been cancer-free for 10 years and so by way of giving back something to those who helped me, I am asking for your support for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research as they saved my life and in the future may also help friends and family of yours. It is a most worthy cause.

Thank you,

Steve