In the early Noughties my best man, and friend since the age of 4, Simon Slater developed bowel cancer. He blamed his illness on a number of lifestyle choices he made in his youth. Despite receiving treatment, as time went on, his condition got worse and the cancer spread to his liver.

Simon was a remarkable man. Having left school at 16 he had done numerous menial and frequently low paid jobs. For a while he worked in a hotel on the German Swiss border. Eventually he decided he could make more of himself. He returned to England, took A levels and then went to Reading University. He passed his degree and ended up teaching English as a foreign language at the Università Cattolica in Milan.

So it was in late June 2008 I found myself in Milan on what had become my annual trip to see Simon. Since my last journey the previous autumn I was surprised to see how much he had deteriorated. When I arrived Simon was waiting in the cafe across the road from his flat. That was the only time during my visit he ventured outside.

 Because Simon's illness had progressed so far he was very tired and weak. He spent a lot of the time sleeping during the day. Paradoxically he was very restless during the night. On the night on 24th June Simon was again restless and was sick. I took him to the bathroom, helped clean him up and put him back to bed. Simon went to sleep and never woke up again. I found him in the morning. He was 45.

Now 10 years later I am running the Hitchin Hard Half Marathon in Simon's memory. I am raising money for Bowel Cancer UK. I hope that the funds raised will lead to improvements in treatment and education in order that other people can have better outcomes than my dearly missed friend.