**Last push super-stretch target! The cost is now lower for AN to add people to their stem cell register, and £4000 will get 100 life-savers on there**

This is it - it's the big one!

Aged 22 I got Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  At 25 I was given just months to live.  But then I had a freak response to a last-ditch attempt at chemotherapy and I needed a stem cell transplant if I was to ever have a chance at staying alive, cancer-free.  I was so very lucky that I had one match out there willing to donate his stem cells, and Anthony Nolan was the charity who made it happen.  I am even luckier that the transplant - whilst the hardest thing I've ever had to go through -  worked like a charm, I recovered really well over the year that followed, and 5 years on, I'm STILL HERE.

As part of my recovery, I started cycling, a lot.  Recently I've added running into that.  I've completed a few endurance events for charity on the bike, but I'm completely pushing the boat out to take on an entire marathon on foot! I don't do things by halves, clearly!  

For me, this will be a celebration of the life I was never supposed to have, and owe completely to Anthony Nolan.  I want to raise as much as I possibly can so that they can continue to save lives. Whenever the going gets tough, I remind myself of the 5 years of cancer treatment I went through, and all the strong people I have met, and sometimes lost, on this journey.  That should keep anyone going!

So, I ask you to dig deep and come and follow me on this madcap scheme to up my running to epic new levels and see if I can raise lots of funds and awareness for this fabulous charity.

My new German stem cells salute you!