I am running the Royal Parks Half Marathon on 13 October 2024 with my wonderful wife Jilly, youngest son Louis and some lovely friends to raise money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity so that other people who find themselves in a similar boat to me can continue to have the best support on their cancer journey.

In March 2023 (one week after passing my aviation Class 1 medical with flying colours) I was diagnosed as having Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL).

CLL is a form of blood cancer that affects the white blood cells. In time it will start to seriously impair my immune system. It is fortunately slow to develop, unfortunately not presently curable but fortunately is treatable.

The news came as a bit of a shock. I felt (and continue to feel) fine. The CLL was spotted as part of a routine blood test. I had no symptoms. I like to think I’m still in my prime and CLL is more often found in older people.

My career has been helping people with their estate and succession planning yet it was something of a rude awakening to realise that I’m mortal too and that the sand running through the timer of my life is just as finite as the sand in everyone else’s.

I am luckily still in the “active surveillance” stage of the disease. As well as my superb GP in Guernsey (big shout out to the wonderful Dr Ed Partridge) I am under the care of the fabulous and friendly team at the Royal Marsden who monitor my blood tests routinely to see when I might have to start treatment. Naturally I get a little nervous before each appointment but they are great at putting me at my ease.

The charity exists to support the hospital in helping to fund research and providing the hospital with additional resources to assist it to provide world-leading care.

If you could make a donation to help support this fabulous hospital, the brilliant staff who work there and the often bewildered and frightened patients who turn to them in their hour of need I would be very grateful.

I doubt I will be achieving a personal best time this time around the course (which is due to being 53 and not putting in enough training, nothing to do with the CLL) but I’m just delighted to be able to participate. A diagnosis of an incurable disease does wonders for making you appreciate what is important in life!

Thank you for any support you can give.