Martin's birthday came and went on 27th June and it felt really horrible not being able to send him a card or present.

On Sunday night ITV4 showed an old Hammer Frankenstein film starring Ralph Bates and I had forgotten how handsome he was. This prompted me to look him up on the internet and I was moved to read that he died in 1991 when he was only 50 from pancreatic cancer. His circumstances were very similar to Martin's: he was almost the same age; he lived for the same length of time as Martin following his diagnosis and he died at the end of March. His wife and family were absolutely devastated - just like Martin's are now and always will be.

I decided to send the amount I would have spent on a birthday present for Martin to the Ralph Bates Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and I intend to do so every year from now on. I set up this page in case anyone else would like to make a donation.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.