Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

9th March 2010, one minute you've got a perfectly beautiful, healthy, nearly two year old daughter, the next you're told 90% of the cells in her blood are useless.  We watched helplessly as a nurse tried desperately to find a vein in order to administer three life saving blood transfusions!

Such is the nature of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia when rogue, immature white cells reproduce at an accelerated rate, choking the blood system, preventing it from fighting infection, transporting oxygen around the body and clotting.

Good news is thanks to on going research and the caring help and support of all those associated with Ward M3 Sheffield Children's Hospital, PACT, Clic Sargent and Leukaemia Research there is hope and the prognosis is good.

Katie has been an absolute star throughout.  Her courage and spirit have been inspirational, as have the other children and families we've met on Ward M3, each with their own private and deeply moving stories, not all with a happy ending.

Yes, there's the short and the potential long term side effects of chemotherapy and a relapse to potentially worry about in those quieter moments of niggling doubt, but our focus is firmly on May 2012 when treatment ends.

After the initial shock and feeling of hoplessness comes the question "Why?" But when you realize no one has the answer, the attention soon turns to what can I do to help.

First thing was to become a blood donor for me, as we've seen first hand how important this is.

Next is fund raising.  The long term aim is The Great North Run next year (there, I've gone public now so I'm committed) but at my age it's something you have to build up to, so I was looking to do some discreet organized runs in preperation.

First of these is the Market Rasen Rememberance Sunday 10Km on 13th November.  I was going to keep this off the record as didn't want to tempt fate before Katie's treatment ended, or hit sponsorship fatigue, as wanted everyone's full support for the big one, but due to overwhelming popular demand, here I am!

We're nominating PACT, a local charity attached to Sheffield Children's Hospital, who do a fantastic job funding research and providing help, support, accommodation and outings for families during the long and unpredictable road through treatment hopefully to recovery.

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 generously as I don't want to sacrifice my knees for nothing!  Thank you.