For some insane reason, I decided a while ago to do the Reading Half Marathon in March. I paid my entry fee, told CLIC Sargent I would run for them....then stopped training. Ooops. So, I need lots of people to donate lots of money so I can relocate my motivation!

As people may or may not know, in 2002 my younger brother was diagnosed with a type of bone cancer. He spent over a year in and out of hospital in Oxford, about an hour's drive from where we lived. This was a very stressful time for the whole family, but things were made easier by CLIC Sargent (or just CLIC as I believe they were known then). They have houses close to the hospitals in Oxford and various other cities in the UK, and families can stay their free of charge whilst children recieve treatment. The house we stayed in was amazing - 5 minutes from the hospital with a kitchen so you didn't get stuck eating hospital food all the time, and beds for us to stay in over the weekend whilst visiting Matthew. It really made life a lot easier for us while he recieved his treatment.

Thankfully, Matthew is fine now and has been in remission for nearly 7 years. Obviously though there are many families out there who are still going through this, and CLIC Sargent is there for them. You can find out more about what they do (it's not just houses) here: http://www.clicsargent.org.uk/Home . Please sponsor me to run the Reading Half Marathon so they can continue their good work!

I am also running in memory of my Mum, who died after a long fight with cancer in 2007.

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.

Clare xxxxx