Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

My story began last summer when my 12 year old daughter, Megan found a lump in her left thigh. The doctor was sure it was nothing to worry about but sent her for an ultrasound scan. They then sent her for an MRI scan and were unsure of the diagnosis.  We were lucky enough to have private healthcare so were referred to Dr Ashok Paul at the Spires Hospital in Whalley range, Manchester.

He assured us that 99.9% of lumps in children are benign, there was nothing to tell us any different from both scans.  Megan underwent an operation on January 6th to remove the lump and all went well. We were fairly confident she would be fine. Needless to say we were devastated to find the lump was actually cancer. The diagnosis was a soft tissue sarcoma named Myxoid Liposarcoma, very rare in children but thankfully a low grade non aggressive cancer.

Megan had a further operation to remove surrounding tissue from her leg and all was clear. A visit to the new children's hospital in Manchester to see the cancer specialist was reassuring. No further treatment was needed and Megan will now be regularly checked for the next 5 years.

Around this time my younger daughter brought a card home from school from the Be Child Cancer Aware charity, I thought this was poignant. I decided to look at the website and then rang the founder, Diane Watt, to see how I could help. I was on the phone for 2 hours!!   She was so pleased I had called and I felt I had known her all my life.

I have decided to have a family fun day on Sunday 26 June 2011 from 12-4pm at Blackrod Community Centre, Greenbarn Way, off Vicarage Road, Bolton BL6 5TA.

It will be centred around children and hopefully will be a great afternoon of fun. I have drafted in as many of my family and friends as possible.

I aim to raise as much money as i can and have been busy writing off to lots of places for freebies!

I decided to set up this page so that friends and family that cannot attend on the day can still donate if they wish.

Raising awareness in childhood cancer is something i feel passionate about and i know all the people involved in this charity feel the same. I am lucky to have my daughter, other families have not been so lucky.

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.