Being in remission from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma myself, one of the most emotional Amnesty letters I have written is for a Palestinian man who was diagnosed with the same cancer but denied treatment for political reasons. He simply wasn’t allowed through the checkpoints to get to the hospital.

 

Amnesty International doesn’t just reveal the outrage of human rights abuse but inspires hope for a better world. It campaigns on many issues close to my heart, like violence against women, torture, the rights of refugees and lesbian and gay people. One of the organisations that Amnesty has supported for more than 10 years now is Women of Zimbabwe Arise, whose members have been repeatedly arrested by the police for demonstrating for every day rights, like affordable bread and accessible primary schools. Jenni Williams, one of their leaders whom I much admire and had the priviledge to hear speak, believes that phone calls from Amnesty to the police after her arrest in 2003, saved her from rape and torture. 

 

Amnesty cannot protect people like Jenni Williams and speak up for people like this Palestinian cancer sufferer without the necessary funding. This is why I am running the Royal Parks Half Marathon on Sunday 6th October for Amnesty International. Amnesty relies on donations from people like you.

 

I have been training hard and although I am not sure if I’ll manage to run it in 2 hrs 30 minutes I am going to try very, very hard. Please sponsor me and thus the vital work of Amnesty International.