5 months ago I was told that I had Testicular Cancer.

Because of the immediate treatment and support I received from the NHS I was told just 2 months later that I didn't need any post-surgery treatment. Every day since then I've done my best to 'stay positive', but that's far easier said than done. It wasn't until the initial physical recovery ended that my mind finally caught up, it hit me hard and merely 'coping' wasn't enough. 

I currently attend a check up appointment at The Christie every 6 weeks, with scans and x-rays alongside ongoing counselling support. The thing that struck me the most on my first appointment was just how many people were there. Every single person there was dealing with the effects of cancer, both during and after treatment, families supporting their loved ones. The one on one support workers there have done everything they can to help me reclaim some of the energy I've lost over the last few months, so I knew I wanted to give something back.

I am physically able to do this run, my goal is to beat my previous time of 1hr06m by at least 10m, but I know so many of the people who depend on The Christie for support can't. I'm running for them and for anyone else who has ever felt like I have in the last 5 months.

Of course, there's no way I could do this as a simple donation, so I've decided to do something to make it all a bit more fun. If you choose to donate, no matter if it's a couple of pence or a tenner or two, I want people to write down the name of a song. I'll be collating all of these into one big playlist to run to during the race. If your song comes up during my run I will match the donation (To a point of course :-) ). I'll make the full playlist available online too, so give me something good to listen to.

Thanks, Sam.