In memory of my fantastic & dear Dad, Alan Ovel.

In early 2009 Cancer meant very little to me, although I was aware of how horrible it could be it thankfully had not affected any of my loved one’s & in all honesty I didn’t give it much thought.

In September 2009 my wonderful Dad was diagnosed with terminal Cancer & since then it has never been far from my thoughts.

Sadly my Dad passed in December 09 after a short but painful fight.

Everybody says it but my old man really was the best! There was nobody I loved spending time with more & I miss him terribly. In honour of such a great man I have foolishly decided to participate in the 2012 Virgin London Marathon in aid of The Helen Rollason Cancer Charity.

When my Dad was first diagnosed our local hospital told us to go home with palliative care & wait for the inevitable which as you can imagine is just not an option & our family went about trying to do many things. The one thing that really made a difference was when we contacted The Helen Rollason charity. Although unfortunately they could do very little to prolong my Dad’s life, they did give us hope & treated my Dad with the dignity he deserved while putting an optimistic spin on everything we came up against. I will never forget the support & treatment Professor Davidson & his team gave to my Dad & our family.

Sadly my best friend also lost his Dad, Bobby Fisher another fantastic man in 2011 to this awful illness & I would also like to dedicate my run in memory of Bob as well as all the other poor buggers that have suffered.

In my opinion all Cancer charity’s do great work however I do believe that The Helen Rollason Charity does that little bit extra. With this in mind I am currently in the process of getting through the miles in all weather’s, aching from every joint in my body & getting very use to walking like John Wayne.

It would be much appreciated if you could spare a few quid & help me smash my target of £1,500 for this very worthy charity.

With my thanks in advance,

James