I'm raising money for Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation (www.roycastle.org) through DUCK, all money raised on here and during the show out and about Durham will be sent over to the foundation.

This is a cause very close to my heart, and doing a marathon radio show seems the best way for me to raise money! I'll be on air for 50 hours from 9am Thursday 6th June to 11am Saturday 8th June on Purple Radio (www.purpleradio.co.uk)

My Mum, a never-smoker, got lung cancer 9 years ago. The tumer was only picked up when pneumonia set in and she had a bronchoscopy. She had to have her right lung removed as by the time it was caught the tumour was the size of a satsuma!!

My Mum was a lucky one and survived, half of all people diagnosed with lung cancer die within 6 onths. Lung cancer accounts for more than a fifth of all cancer deaths and is the largest kills! 96 people everyday, or one person every 15 minutes dies from lung cancer!

The stats are bleak, despite being the largest killer it is horrendously under funded and seen as a "dirty cancer". My Mum never smoked, nor did many people with lung cancer. If it caught early enough then many patients can be cured!