Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In March 2012 I was having my usual banter filled conversation with my old friend Riz and as usual he couldn't give a straight response to a question, I'd only asked for his address to send a wedding invite!! He asked to speak to me privately later that evening and I just felt excited to hear his news... I thought he might have met a nice girl he wanted to tell me about or he was going to miss my wedding because he was moving abroad.

I would never have guessed the truth but unfortunately Riz's news was that he had been diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma. This is an incredibly rare and aggressive cancer which mainly affects children and young adults. I researched it as soon as I heard and I couldn't believe that even now there could still be a cancer that medicine was so ineffective against. He was young, fit and healthy but his cancer was just too strong for him and he lost his fight against it in July 2012.

Riz was not one to be down or serious for too long, he even faced his illness with the sense of humour and spirit that got him through everything and made him so brilliant to be around (most of the time!) I knew I had to do something positive for him so  I've set myself the challenge of the Great North Run... an injured back has prevented me running more than a mile so far so my aim is just to finish it please don't expect a good time!   

I have chosen to run for the Chris Lucas Trust as they fund research into this specific form of cancer. Please read the link below about all of the work they do:

http://www.chrislucastrust.com/

Please donate anything you can for an amazing person and a very worthy cause!

Clare xx