I have been secretly training away over Lockdown 3 to run my own Marathon (26.2 miles) on 27^th March (if all goes to plan!) in memory of my Aunty Anna who sadly lost her battle in 2017 to a very aggressive brain cancer – glioblastoma.

I think if you are reading this and know me, then you will know that it would have to take somebody special to inspire me to run a marathon, and that she was!

Anybody who knew Aunty Anna would agree that she lit up a room with fun and laughter and was the life and soul of any party. She has left a huge hole in the lives of so many because she made an impact on so many. She coached me and a whole host of my friends tennis and they all still remember the fun, games and wine gums! When Ben and I stayed with her as we were growing up, she used to ask us before we went to bed: “Can you tell me three kind things you have done today?” because that mattered more than being top of the class or the best at sport – I still think about whether I have done my three kind things most days. She also let us drink the milk from our cereal bowls, which we thought was pretty cool! The older I got, there were many times that she just seemed to be there with the words I needed to hear at that time. The long and short of it is that she had more of an impact on my life than I think she would ever have realised and this is my way of thanking her for that.

I am raising money for Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust to say thank you for the wonderful care they gave her and any money raised will be in the ‘Anna Horrell Tribute Fund’. Currently in Oncology, due to covid-19, there are delays with people waiting to have surgeries for cancer and so Addenbrooke’s hospital will shortly be launching a new Appeal to buy a surgical robot. With robot assisted surgery, patients can be out of hospital within days, feeling hardly any pain or discomfort and able to get on with their lives once again.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I know that not everybody is able to donate, and if you can’t then please just “do three kind things today”.

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