Hello friends.

Thank you for visiting our Race for Life sponsorship page.  We are "Team Joan" and are proud, this year, to run in the name and the memory of a wonderful and courageous lady, Joan Halford, who lost her fierce and bitter battle with Cancer at 1.45pm on 3rd December 2008.

Joan was diagnosed with the disease in November 2006. Although it was an enormous blow to her, she maintained her characteristic optimism right up until her final day on Earth. She never talked about it beating her. For Joan, it was all about "staying positive" and "getting better" from the very first moments after her diagnosis until hours before her death, when she drowsily and not a little impatiently told her anxious daughter, "Stop watching me! It's not as if I'm dying!"  She was focussed. She was determined. She wanted to see her grand-daughters grow up, and in her own words, "Hold their babies in my arms".

Sadly, this was not to be.

To say she fought bravely would be an understatement. To say she fought with dignity would not do her memory the justice it deserves. To say she fought with an iron-will to stay alive just doesn't even come close to touching the truth. For in truth, her battle revealed a spirit so strong, a determination to live so potent and a faith so secure as to humble the best of us.

But, insidious as it is, Cancer spread its ugly web and reached right through her, taking her away from those who loved her more than anything in the world, robbing a daughter of a mother, a husband of a  wife, grandchildren of a nanna. Robbing, sisters, nieces and nephews, friends, neighbours... Like a thief in the night, it crept upon her and stole her from those she loved, and from those who loved her most. And believe me when I say it showed no mercy in those final weeks, as it ravaged her battered body with savage cruelty, that noone should have to endure.

Cancer is like that, you see and that's a sad fact. It's no respecter of age, nor circumstance. It's random, it's unfair perhaps. But inspite of our perceptions and the way we talk about Cancer, it is not something that is visited upon us from outside of ourselves. It's simply and biochemically, our bodies malfunctioning, churning out abnormal cells at an alarming rate, until their number starts to exceed the healthy cells. Is it in our genes? Perhaps. Is it because of our lifestyle? Well maybe. And what about external toxins? Well, of course...But noone is really sure yet as to what categorically causes this devastating disease in one individual and not another. Noone is sure how we can ultimately stop it.

What is known, is that charities such as Cancer Research UK, are making huge in-roads into finding out some of the causes of this disease. And by finding out the causes, we can take some steps to prevent it. They are also striving to improve diagnostic techniques all the time, so that cancer is found in its early stages. Before it's too late, as in Joan's case. They're researching medicines and treatments that can stop it in its tracks. Before it takes hold. And even after it's taken hold, reversing damage already done.

So please dig deep and sponsor us online – it’s quick, easy and totally secure. It's not like we're asking YOU to give US money. Rather, we're suggesting you invest in your future health and the health of those you love, by helping to fund Cancer Research UK's work. The benefits of your giving will profit us all.

Events like Race for Life are vital in funding Cancer Research UK’s life-saving work into preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer. By sponsoring us now you can help more people survive cancer.

Gift Aid it!

If you are a UK taxpayer, please remember to tick the Gift Aid box when donating so that an extra 25%, plus a 3% supplement, can be added to your gift at no cost to you.

Every pound you donate really does make a difference – so please sponsor us now! Even if it's just a pound.

Many thanks for your support – Together we will beat cancer- Joan, and millions like her didn't. But maybe, by doing our bit now, we can prevent it claiming our own lives, the lives of others we love.

Cancer destroys lives. Let's destroy it.

Thank you on behalf of Joan and her family.

Love and long life to you all.

Jill, Lucy, Eleanor, Adele, Natalie and Kirsty. xxx

A more personal note from Jill.

It's been two years since I did my first Race for Life in 2007. It was a particularly poignant occasion for me as whilst I was walking the course with Eleanor, Mum was on her way up to Leeds for a huge operation, that would supposedly get rid of her Cancer. We thought it had. The following month, we were jubilant when she was told it had all gone. Now, I read my fundraising page for that year with a heavy heart. How naive we were to think it would be so simple! Maybe we were simply hopeful, because without hope how do you get through a thing like that?

Anyway, I decided to run this year soley in Mum's memory and was thrilled when Lucy agreed to join me, particularly as her life has been touched by Cancer within her own family also. I'd like to thank her and her lovely girls for agreeing to do this with me and my girls in Mum's name. Her support in this has meant more than she knows. Thank you Lucy, Natalie and Kirsty. xxxx