Thank you for coming to this Just Giving website to sponsor us for the BUPA Great North Run. People all over the country are familiar with Marie Curie Cancer Care because of the excellent services that their nurses provide. But many people don’t know about the groundbreaking research they are doing to ensure people with cancer have the best treatments available.

At the Marie Curie Research Institute, scientists are working hard to research earlier diagnosis and better treatments. And at the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit researchers are leading the way to find how best to support cancer patients through their illness. These are two of the reasons why we are doing all we can to fund more research, by taking part in the BUPA Great North Run.

The one and only Richard Whiteley OBE, my much-missed and much-loved Countdown governor, was a long-standing supporter of Marie Curie Cancer Care and I am delighted to be taking part in his memory, running with his friends and family in the ‘Running for Richard’ team.  Our team (non – Olympian standard) includes me, Christa Ackroyd from BBC Look North (who co-hosted Calendar with Richard for 12 years), Richard Digance, one of our Countdown dictionary corner family and of course, the woman who Richard loved most of all, Kathryn Apanowicz, his long-standing partner.

I hope you will support us as we run for these outstanding research programmes. With your help, Marie Curie Cancer Care’s research can ensure that people with cancer have the best care and treatments available – now and in the future.  Cancer has affected my family hugely over the last ten years.  I hope you will never experience it in yours.

Thank you once again for your kind support. And don’t forget, you can come along and cheer us on the day (we’ll need all the help we can get!!!  For more information please call Marie Curie Cancer Care on 08700 340 040.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Marie Curie Cancer Care will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

Many thanks for your support.

Carol Vorderman