Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

After a health scare last year, I have decided (or maybe foolishly drunkenly agreed to... the jury is still out on that one) to run the Southend Half Marathon on 13th June 2010 and raise money for Cancer Research UK. Cancer Research UK are an amazing organisation who are the world's leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research. Their work has saved millions of lives.

There are many, many reasons to donate money to such a worthwhile and important cause, but I do have my own personal one as well. Last September I visited my GP after suffering severe abdominal pain and, after being referred to the Hospital, was told that I had suspected appendicitis. However, somewhat confusingly, my blood tests obstinately showed no signs of infection. After a couple of days on the ward, the pain had largely subsided and I was sent home. If I'm being totally honest, I think they thought I may have been exaggerating it all a little bit.

However, in October I suffered a recurrence of the abdominal pain and it was back to the GP and back to the Hospital. Again, all the signs pointed to appendicitis except my blood tests, which pointed to a malingerer. Eventually, they decided to operate on a 'better safe than sorry' basis and, just maybe, to stop me cluttering up their ward.

It transpired that I had not in fact been suffering from appendicitis - when they operated to remove my appendix, they found a malignant carcinoid tumour growing on it. Carcinoid tumours are a relatively rare form of cancer and are usually very slow-growing and usually completely symptom free until it's almost too late to do anything about.

Thankfully the tumour was in a relatively early stage and the surgeons were able to completely remove it. I still have absolutely no idea what made me experience enough pain for them to operate when usually at that stage I would have no symptoms at all but, if there is one, I thank God that I did. Otherwise, it doesn't really bear thinking about.

I tend to make light of things, to make jokes about things, but I think I can admit on this occasion that I was pretty badly scared by the whole experience. But shhh, don't tell anyone.

But I have been left feeling like the luckiest guy alive and determined to enjoy all those things we normally take for granted - our amazing families, our amazing friends and our health.

What has really opened my eyes, and actually shocked me a little bit, is that when I have been telling my family and friends about it, just how many of them have had their own stories to tell about this awful disease. It seems like virtually everybody I told knew of someone who had or was affected by cancer.

I find this almost ridiculous that so many people can be affected by this awful disease in today's 'modern', 'advanced' society and a huge way we can help to change this is by donating to fabulous organisations like Cancer Research UK.

Gene research and technology can be incredibly complex and, sadly, often incredibly expensive but every pound really does count to charities like Cancer Research UK. For example:

£15 could pay for a lab coat to protect a scientist from harmful chemicals, and their experiments from contamination.

£182 could buy 1,500 plastic petri dishes. They're an essential resource for thousands of scientists who are working hard to understand cancer.

£300 could enable senior research nurses to treat and monitor a patient on a clinical trial for around two days.

£528 could buy 20,000 glass slides for studying cells and tumour samples in detail under a microscope.

£1,050 could fund around four microarrays - powerful pieces of gene technology that allow scientists to compare how active different genes are in cancer cells and healthy cells.  

£5,800 could cover three week's running costs for a large-scale clinical trial testing whether a drug called celecoxib - similar to ibuprofen - can help to prevent bladder cancer from coming back after treatment. 

I hope the above examples illustrate just how important any donation, no matter how big or small, can be to a charity like Cancer Research UK and how you can help them and millions of other people.

Who knows? Maybe one day, and hopefully one day soon, this terrible disease can be beaten once and for all.

I am running with friend of mine, the fantastic Laura (and her fantastic sister), who is fund-raising for Community Links. You can find her page at: http://www.justgiving.com/laura-hyde

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.

Thank you.

Steve

ps you can follow my (attempt at) training here:http://www.dailymile.com/people/SteveW81#ref=tophd