Last year our 4 year old son William was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma - a very rare  eye cancer. It was the worst experience of our lives and has changed our outlook on life forever.

There are only 50 cases of Rb per year in the UK, it occurs in children usually under 5, often genetically forming in both eyes of all siblings and is treated at only 2 hospitals (Birmingham or the Royal London). Brave William is now all clear but sadly he is now blind in one eye and still requires a level of care. During treatment we met unemployed parents travelling across the UK by coach every 2-4 weeks for their distressed childrens' examinations under general anaesthetic - we realised we were the fortunate ones... .

CHECT provides bewildered parents with critical support, information and advice. It does a lot with very little - supporting families through treatment, advising its 1,700 members, providing regional support workers and funding research, but restricted funds meant they recently had to stop their travel grants. I'd like to see money going to support those less fortunate families again who are embarking on what we went through last year.

 

Race report (!)

It was a beautiful (if somewhat chilly) Sunday morning so everyone was keen to get going. I knew I had started out too fast when I got to the top of Wimbledon hill, then saw the 5km mark - I was really suffering, but we were over halfway and past the course peak. By 8km I noticed there were no clouds in the sky, I'd stopped feeling sick(!) and I could make it in under 50 mins if I kept pushing... things were looking up. By the time I could see the finish I had 1 minute to go, heard the cheers from some friends and somehow came in at 49:45.

Please dig deep and thank you for visiting my page.

-Ben