Hi, thanks for taking the time to visit my page.

My name's Marina and I consider myself a very fortunate girl. This brief story of why I have chosen to run for Cancer Research UK is not my own, it's that of two people very close to my heart. 

Eight years ago my best friend lost her mother to Breast Cancer, she was a like a second mother to me and I loved her with all my heart. It was one of the hardest losses I have experienced and I miss her so much. Her daughter, twelve at the time, never faltered in her strength and bravery. I only wish Francoise could still be here today, to congratulate her daughter on her achievements and watch her grow into one of the most fantastic people I know - she would be so proud.

More recently, at the end of 2013, another of my very good friends lost her father to a second bout of Prostate Cancer. I've rarely seen someone be so courageous and despite the tremendous loss she and her brother went through, I know they are so grateful to have been able to spend another incredible 9 years with their father after the first diagnosis. 

This brings me to my reason for chosing Cancer Research UK. As I said I count myself incredibly lucky, because as I thought about what charity I wanted to run for, I realised that all the personal losses I had experienced had mostly been from freak or natural causes. I could never imagine having to say goodbye to either of my wonderful parents, let alone having to lose them to such a destructive and painful illness. So, strange as it may seem, the two losses that have touched me the most in recent years haven't been mine, but those of my friends. 

They now say that 1 in 2 of our generation will get cancer at some stage in our lives, and if that is the case, we need to be able to beat it. I have complete faith in the intelligence of our human race and am sure that a cure will be found, it's simply a matter of when. And if time is of the essence then we should invest in the research to help save our loved ones.

I would greatly appreciate any kind of donation you can give and have started training (as in a worryingly tough run) today! I aim to finish the 13.1 mile/21.09km run in 2 hours and 15 minutes so I will be sure to let you know how it goes!

Thanks for reading :)

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