On the 26th of December 2014 my dear dad lost his fight against lung cancer. It's been over a year since I lost my dad and I would like to share with you what I have learnt since.

Grief is a painful experience from which you are not able to run away. Crying, screaming or hating release the tension only temporarily. Guilt is a massive mountain that you will not be able to carry on your shoulders. Our days on Mother Earth are limited, life is short so think how your circumstances can empower you and let it drive you forward.

As Sean Stephenson said "Pain is inevitable, it eventually touches us all. Suffering is optional". Sean is a great person who is locked in a body that doesn't allow him to move properly. Yet it doesn't stop him from working out and looking after himself, and all of that with a great positive attitude that he passes to other people.

When we are talking about strong personalities locked in their bodies, I cannot miss Stephen Hawking. Stephen was diagnosed with ALS at age 21 during his final year at Oxford and was given 2-3 years to live. Even though his body was shutting down it never stopped his passion to physics, he came up with incredible research about black hole radiation, known as Hawking radiation. He also wrote a bestselling book 'A Brief History of Time' explaining how our universe was created. He became known as the most intelligent human being. Today he is 74 and is working on a new space exploration initiative dubbed “Starshot” planning to send spacecrafts to Alpha Centauri. Let me remind you, Mr Hawking cannot move or talk and the only way he communicates with the outside world is via a little computer, Hawking selects words using muscles in his cheek at a rate of around one word per minute.

Now think about your problems. Could they be even worst than they are? You bet.

Tony Robbins once said, life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.

My dad passed away 4 days before his biopsy results came back for a new trial of promising immunotherapy. His results were positive and he was invited for the trial. If they returned the results in time, my dad could have been here today. They were 3 weeks late, we cannot allow that to happen to our families.

The reason why I support Cancer Research is because it makes a difference. 80p of every £1 you donate is used to beat cancer. Some of my friends' lives where saved by their research and many people lives were significantly extended due to novel therapies.

Sacrifice one t-shirt or a few drinks from a night out and support somebody with your donation. 

Please be generous, you are making the difference.

- Chris