My name is Mark and I was first diagnosed with blood cancer on the 4th November 2012. I had nearly twelve months of intense treatment at the Centre for Clinical Haematology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham before undergoing a bone marrow transplant in September 2013. During that time I missed one son's wedding day and the other's 18th Birthday which was, of course, so difficult to take.Those setbacks made me stronger and the transplant put me into remission and I had been in remission for nearly 6 years.

This year, the illness has returned in the form of mylodysplastic syndrome and rather than let that get me down I am going to turn that news into something positive by raising funds for a fantastic charity, Cure Leukaemia. I am going to get the whole community in Handsworth Wood and Sutton Coldfield engaged in supporting my campaign and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has already said they will support me.

Every penny will go towards supporting patients like me being treated at the amazing Centre for Clinical Haematology. My Professor, Charlie Craddock CBE, believes that effective treatments for all blood cancers can be found within 25 years - that's an inspiring message and I hope we can do our bit to speed that process up.

Thank you all,

Mark