In August 2017, it was our turn for the skies to go dark. My 17-year-old son, Cam, had a cough, which turned out to be a very rare form of lymphoma, called Grey Zone. We'd taken him for a chest X-ray when the cough didn't clear up with antibiotics and went from thinking 'maybe he needs a different antibiotic' to 'there's an unusual mass on his chest' in the space of one evening. What followed was the part of parenting everyone hopes to avoid - the journey to keep a seriously ill child alive. There were three things that made the implosion of our world bearable. Cam's stoicism - 'Mum, stop with the worried face. It's inconvenient but it's just a blip.' The love and support - often from unexpected sources - of our friends and family. And at the heart of it all, the Marsden at Sutton. When we collapsed through the door for the first chemo, with Cam so weak he couldn't unscrew the top off a bottle of water, it was the first time in the whole process that I'd felt safe. I didn't need to be asking questions, chivvying along, monitoring every movement because - quite simply - I was surrounded by experts who were on it. I could be a mum again rather than an inadequate medical expert. And in time, with great care and skill, they gave me back my son, who is now nineteen, a year into remission and off at university living his life. 

I could walk a million Marsden Marches and I would never be able to repay what they did for my family, but in walking, I hope I will be able to contribute in some small way to helping someone else when their own sky goes dark.

The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity raises money solely to support The Royal Marsden, a world-leading cancer centre. We ensure our nurses, doctors and research teams can provide the very best care and develop life-saving treatments, which are used across the UK and around the world. From funding state-of-the-art equipment and groundbreaking research, to creating the very best patient environments, we will never stop looking for ways to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.