Story
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On Sunday April 17th I ran my first marathon. Last summer, a friend of ours died of cancer. Sam was 43 years old. Her children were only 3 and 6 when they lost her. She’d been treated for skin cancer a few years earlier but it came back very suddenly and unexpectedly. She died less than 6 months later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her death really shocked me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also made me realise how lucky I am to be healthy and fit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few weeks after her death, I rang Cancer Research and asked if I could run this year’s marathon to raise money for them. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Unfortunately Sam isn’t the only mother I know who’s died recently from cancer. Four years ago, Suzy Barratt also passed away at the age of 43 leaving her husband and two young children. I’d known Suzy since we were children. We grew up in the same street, went on family holidays together. She was an actress, turned writer – a beautiful, larger-than-life character. I couldn’t believe she wasn’t going to make it. Then in another cruel twist, her sister’s best friend, Katie Mortimer (Pearson), also got breast cancer again after years in remission. I’d known her since I was a child as well. During the last six months of her life, Katie described so movingly her new battle with cancer in her weekly column ‘the Wee Beastie’ in The Times. And then at Christmas, she was gone too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I am doing this marathon for all them – Sam, Suzy and Katie. They were three wonderful women and mothers, who should all still be here now. I am hoping I can raise a lot of money for Cancer Research. You never know, maybe in some small way, it might make a difference to other people’s lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">I didn't quite finish the marathon as planned in fact I collapsed at mile 24 and had to have a little liedown with St. John's Ambulance service for a couple of hours more of which is in the blog below.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; background: white; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><a href="http://www.realbuzz.com/blogs/u/Sophie_Raworth/sophie-raworth-s-blog/"><span style="line-height: 140%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: #2a42c6; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">http://www.realbuzz.com/blogs/u/Sophie_Raworth/sophie-raworth-s-blog/</span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; background: white; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="line-height: 140%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: #1c1c1c; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Thank you for supporting me and for sponsoring me. It means a lot. Keep your fingers crossed on Sunday April 17th.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: #1c1c1c; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Sophie </span></p>
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