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What am I doing?

I'm going to be running the London Marathon in April to raise money for St Christopher's Hospice. This will be by far the furthest I've ever run and as you may know, I'm fairly breakable so this could be interesting!

I'm running for St Christopher's because they cared for my friend's wife, Charlotte, after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2016. As a lot of you will know, Charlotte was a fun, kind and loving person and anyone could see how happy her and her husband Chris were together. Sadly, Charlotte lost her battle with cancer in April 2017, the day after her 37th birthday. The care and support that Charlotte and her family received from St Christopher's was amazing and I want to raise money to help the hospice continue to provide the same level of care and support for others when they need it most.

Knowing that money is being raised for St Christopher's will make all the many miles of training runs through the winter months worthwhile. Any sponsorship you can give would be massively appreciated by me and St Christopher's and would help to keep the charity providing care and support to people in need.

Charlotte's story

Charlotte was referred to St Christopher's in early 2017. Having stayed there as an inpatient for two weeks in February, the hospice staff helped Charlotte with emotional, physical and spiritual support. Even when she was discharged, she continued to visit a couple of times a week for counselling and physio and then, later in her journey, they would visit Charlotte at home.

Without this amazing charity, Charlotte's last few months would have been very different. St Christopher's and its amazing staff and facilities helped Charlotte to still be Charlotte and to live as much as was possible in her last few months. This is something that her friends and family will forever be indebted to. Furthermore, they have also provided continuing support for Charlotte's family to help them through this incredibly difficult time.

Charlotte wrote religiously in her journal about her wish for family and friends to keep fundraising with walks and runs in order to provide care for people and to help beat cancer. This is what I intend to do by running the London Marathon.

About St Christopher's Hospice

Taken from their website, the following gives an insight into the services that St Christopher's provides:

• Founded by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1967 St Christopher’s is widely recognised as the first modern hospice
• St Christopher’s is a registered charity
• It costs £21 million each year to maintain our services. All our services to patients and families are free
• We need to fundraise £15 million every year
• We provide care and support for people across the 5 London boroughs of Bromley, Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark
• St Christopher’s has 581 paid staff working across our sites and in the community
• We have over 1,150 amazing volunteers

Thank you for reading my story, any money you can spare for this amazing charity would be really appreciated!

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