Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Last December we lost a very dear member of our family to cancer, my brother in law Neil Kershaw.

I had known Neil since the start of my Audenshaw Grammar Scool days and joining my first ever running club - East Cheshire Harriers where the Kershaw name was already famous! That was at the age of 10. A few years went by and Neil became my brother in law when he married my sister Helen. Until his tragically early death in December 2013 this means I knew Neil for 45 years.

The sense of loss is enormous, the gap he has left in the family is impossible to convey, and not a day goes by without thinking of him. To say he fought his illness with courage does not do him justice; I would say he fought his cancer because he had so much to live for and he was not going to let his family, friends and work lose him easilly. Throughout these difficult times he continued to put other people first and faced the arduous and often painful periods of treatment with great bravery and humour.

The Christie Hospital provided that treatment. The care he received undoubtedly prolonged both the length of his life and most importantly the quality of it until the end became inevitable. In this he, and we, benefited from the advances made in cancer treatment by centres of reserarch such as the Christie Hospital over many years. He also benefited greatly from the wonderful care and attention of the medical, nursing and support teams that looked after him with so much compassion over the last few years. They cared for him in his final hours and helped him leave us peacefully.

"Team Neil", of which I am a proud member, is a group of friends and family who are running this 10k to remember Neil and to recognise that progress in treating all forms of cancer relies on costly and painstaking research. The donations each of us on the team raise during this run will be our small contribution in Neils memory to help continue this progress and to support the wonderful care the Christie gives to patients and their relatives

I have an unusual request regarding donations - please make them small!

It would be great to have lots of people donating just a fiver, so thats all I am asking for. But all those fivers will help the Christie continue to make the small step by step developments that will increase life expectancy, increase the chances of a cure and increase further the quality of life for those striken by this disease.

I do know that some who will be donating will have suffered the tragedy of cancer in your own lives. My thoughts will be with you too, every step of the way. 

Thank you so much for donating toward the advancement of treatment in this important field and for doing so in the memory of my truly wonderful friend and relative - Neil Kershaw.

Howard