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In September 2016 my 17 year old nephew, Connor, was diagnosed with a cancer called Primary Mediastinal Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma. This came out of the blue after he had been feeling unwell for a few
weeks. It manifested itself in a tumour at the top of his chest that was over 10cm in diameter and was pressing on his windpipe. He was told he would need 6 treatments of chemotherapy with the whole treatment lasting around 6 months. The anticipated outcome was never made clear to me. For each of the 6 chemo treatments he had to stay in hospital in Nottingham for a week permanently connected to a drip of chemo and other drugs. After each week of chemo treatment he was allowed home but had to take various tablets, injections and have twice
weekly blood tests.

Karen, myself and Karen’s mum were regular visitors to see Connor in hospital in Nottingham and whilst he was at home. We saw him go
through the stages of being a fine looking athletic football playing 17 year old to looking perhaps a little thin and gaunt when he was first diagnosed and admitted to hospital, to losing all his hair, then losing more weight and then after the fifth and sixth treatments of chemo looking very poorly and unable to eat properly.

I won’t forget Christmas Day 2016 when we were hosting all the family at our house and Connor was so ill from his fifth treatment of chemo
that he was having to have injections at Northampton General Hospital every 6 hours, so he made it out to our house in one of the 6 hour gaps to have tomato soup for his Christmas dinner as anything else was too difficult to eat due to the mouth ulcers that chemo gives you. After dinner he then had to go back to hospital for another injection.

He was even worse after his sixth chemo treatment and spent
several days in hospital.

From the first time we saw Connor after he was diagnosed he was incredibly positive in his outlook. It was always a case of what he was
going to do when he was better. This positive attitude was helped by the
excellent treatment and care he received on Ward E39 (The Teenage Cancer Trust Ward) at Nottingham's Queens Medical Centre. The nursing staff were excellent and I always got the sense that Connor almost felt at home in this ward as he got on so well with the nurses.

Typically for Connor, a month or so before he found out the outcome of his treatment, he started organising a fund raising event of his own, to climb Snowdon.

On Thursday February 23rd 2017, after a scan, Connor was told that he was in full remission from his cancer (i.e. the cancer had gone).

He successfully scaled Snowdon on 1^st April with his family. A couple of days later he played the last 10 minutes as sub for his football team, Desborough Town, taking to the field to much applause.

I was so impressed with Connor’s positive attitude throughout this whole episode from diagnosis to chemo treatment and through his
suffering after the fifth and sixth treatments to the way he set himself goals to get himself mentally and physically back into shape that I thought I should help raise some money for the ward that did so much to help him through this difficult time.

I already had a place in the London Marathon and as we had
arranged to visit friends in France the week after I thought I would make up my own duathlon of running the London Marathon (hopefully sub 3:20) and then cycling to France a few days
later. The marathon is on Sunday 23^rd April and then all being
well I will cycle to Bois Bernard in France (75 miles from Calais), leaving on Wednesday 26^th April and hopefully arriving at midday on Saturday 29^th
April, a total journey of 270 miles.

If you can sponsor me, all the money raised will go directly to the ward that helped Connor so much. Thank you. Andy

PS If it is easier you can text ANDG53 £10 to 70070 (as many times as you like ;)  )