Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I started running in December 2013, going from not being able to complete a 5k without stopping to rest, to completing my first half marathon in September 2014. Now, I've been lucky enough to secure a place in the 2015 Virgin London Marathon so I'll see if I've got what it takes to complete 26.2 miles of pain!

In November 2013 my Grandad died at Eden Valley Hospice in Carlisle. He was a week away from his 95th birthday and had spent the previous couple of years battling all the kinds of problems that 95 year old people generally have to contend with, but also terminal prostate cancer that was untreatable, largely down to his age and frailty, that had spread to other areas of his body. When things took a turn for the worse and it was clear that he was approaching his final few days and hours as a family, wanted to make him as comfortable as possible and let him die with dignity and with those that loved him at his bedside.

Eden Valley Hospice was the place to do that. They took him in, treated him with the greatest respect, made him comfortable, but also did everything they could to make all of his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren as happy as could be with what was happening. The nurses and carers there were simply awesome and deserve all the help they can get.

The hospice itself is funded 25% by the taxpayer, but must find the remaining 75% through donations, raffles, cake sales and all the other things they can think of to raise cash. This amounts to an annual fundraising target of £1.95 million which is a huge amount for any organisation to raise each year.

So, to say thank you for what Eden Valley Hospice and their staff did for my Grandad, to help raise at least something towards their huge fundraising target, and to help the families in Cumbria who will inevitably go through similar things we did in the future, I'm running London in honour of them.

If you could spare just a few pounds towards my fundraising goal I'd be a very happy boy. Whatever you donate will also be matched £ for £ by my employer so a £5 donation instantly becomes £10 without any extra cost to you.

Thank you

http://www.evhospice.org.uk/info

PS - Every time a donation is made, I'll be amending the "offline donations" amount to match the new online total. That way you can see exactly how much has also been matched £ for £ by my employer. Please dig deep and make it go as high as possible. Thank you.