For years a bucket list goal of mine has been to run the London marathon, this year I was lucky enough to get a place in the general ballot allowing me to focus on my training without worrying about fundraising  

With my training going well so far (touch wood) it’s now time to get the fundraising part going. By the time race day comes around it’ll be almost 17 years since I lost my Dad after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Aged 19 at the time it was pretty devastating to lose the sole male influence in my life something that I struggled with for many years afterwards.

Pancreatic cancer is tough to diagnose, tough to treat, tough to research and tough to survive. From diagnosis less than 7% of sufferers survive 5 years on.

This shocking survival rate shows how important it is that more research into this disease is done to do what can be done to improve this statistic so I’m trying to do my bit and use my London marathon entry as a springboard for fundraising.