Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Last year I attended the funeral of Emilie Kwan, a little girl who spent several of her 7 years battling acute myeloid leukemia. I lost count of the times that she beat the cancer only for it to return time and time again, and it made me question how families find the strength.

The funeral itself was quite an uplifting celebration. Yes, tears were shed, but also laughs and uplifting stories of Emilie throughout, some from family members, others from the staff of institutions who care for children with cancer, often incurable. 

One of those charities is Shooting Star Chase. I won't list everything they do (you can find out more here - https://www.shootingstarchase.org.uk), but if you look at the top of this page, amongst photos of Emilie with her family (Melissa, Choong and sister Siena), you will see a cast of Melissa's hand holding Emilie's. This was organised by Shooting Star Chase and is just one of the wonderful, thoughtful things they make it their job to do.

So, inspired by Emilie's life and the people at her funeral, I decided to run the London Landmarks Half Marathon for Shooting Star Chase, and Emilie's family have very kindly allowed me to run in her memory.

I've been training in the cold, rain, snow and hailstorms over the last month or so, and have thought of Emilie every single time. One time I was getting a little tired so thought of her to spur me on, and at that very moment I had another runner smile and wave at me as we crossed. Those of you who run in London know that NEVER happens, so I'm taking that was a wave sent from Emilie. To add to that, 30 seconds later I crossed paths with Emilie's dad!

I would appreciate it if you would join me and donate towards the work of Shooting Star Chase. They won't cure cancer, but the work they do will help families through it. From £1 to £100, whatever you feel you can donate will be much appreciated.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.