I can barely get out of bed and make the ten-minute walk to work these days I'm so lazy, so the fact I'm running 14 long miles through the streets of Philadelphia shows you how special the person/charity is that I am running this half marathon for.
My brave and gorgeous cousin Paul Carlin (pictured) was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2005 when he was just 18. After receiving intensive chemotherapy for six months he got the all clear and then relapsed. He then spent two months in hospital receiving chemo twice a day. He was finally given the all clear in July of this year.
As well as the love and support of his family and friends, he said he could not have got through it without the help of the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children which he said were amazing to him and his family. They took him on residentials, concerts and holidays and enrolled him in a number of college courses. He still volunteers for the charity and said he has made friends for life, 'the silver lining on my dark cloud' he said. Since I was gallivanting around the world through this time, I was never able to do anything for him until now. So dig deep people!
Not only am I getting up on a Sunday at 6am to run a half marathon, but I am also doing it on my birthday (21 again!). So those of you not lucky enough to be in America to shower me with gifts can put their money towards donating to this very worthy cause.
