I have decided to dedicate my time to fundraise for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charities, home to the Adrenal Tumour Trust, as well as St. Oswald's Hospice Care. I had never heard of Adrenal tumours or even this charity until devestatingly, my dad passed away from an agressive adrenal tumour on his right adrenal gland.

My dad was just 49 when he died, but he lived life to the full. He adored and lived for his family. He loved nothing more than to spend days with his kids fixing things, or playing with his grand children, or simply having a day out with his wife, my mum.

But sadly Easter time in 2012 he became very ill with a chest infection whilst on holiday in Cyprus. He returned and was put on several courses of antibiotics, but the chest infection wasnt getting any better. Lots of trips to the doctors resulted in one day the doctor sending him into hospital. A few days later he gave us the news that they had found a lump/tumour the size of 10 cms on his right adrenal gland. The doctors were shocked and confused by their finding, this tumour could have been a lot of different things and they werent sure how to treat it. They did lots of tests as to whether it could be cancer or not but they all came back inconclusive. After three weeks he was transfered to Addenbrookes hospital to the gland specialist. Dad was very excited by this because not only did he think they could mend him, he had heard that this hospital was very high tech and if you knew my dad at all, you would have known how much he loved his gadets and finding out how things worked. I remember talking to him on the phone when he arrived and he described the machines as 'robots' so I knew he was impressed.

But it was here that his tumour became even more agressive, it started to grow and attach itself to the main blood vessel to his heart and also started to block the blood vessels to his liver. Which meant his liver started to die. Sadly this is where he lost his fight, he fell asleep forever on fathers day at 6.39 am. We were all with him and one of the last things he said was that he loved us, especially my beautiful mum. This particular type of cancer is extremely rare, with doctors even stating that chances of contracting it are 'one in a million'.

I believe that my dad has only gone in body, he's here with me wherever I go, not only in me but in my family, my three amazing siblings, my inspirational mum, and everyone that knew him. Everyone has different fond memories of dad and they are kept alive everyday by constantly talking to him and about him.

Through this awful tragedy I constantly wished I knew more. So that is the main reason that we have chosen to raise money for these particular charities; to continue the research and provide future patients and their families with more information and to help those suffering with hospice care in the final steps of their journey.

In order to raise money and awareness for these great organisations, I will be competing in the Great North Run on the 7th September this year, and I would love your support to help me through this experience. You can help me in a few ways, from liking our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/alanhorncastlegreatnorthrun2014 to sending us a donation, no matter how big or small, to our justgiving page @ https://www.justgiving.com/alanhorncastle-greatnorthrun2014/

Thank you all so much for your support and for taking the time to help. I just ask you all one thing, keep dad's name and memory in your lives, talk about him, laugh about and with him, remember him fondly and please never forget him. He was, is and always will be such an amazing man, and I cant wait to see him again.

Will x