Hi, and thanks for visiting my "Just Giving" charity page!

For those that don't already know I am running the Vancouver Marathon on Sunday May 2nd, 2010! That's 26.2 miles ...gulp! (42.2kms for you Canadians!)

Now, if I'm honest...I HATE running! Can't bear it!! It's boring, it hurts and it takes bloody ages to get anywhere!! Give me a bike any day! But then I always knew that I'd give it a go once. I just needed the motivation to do it! This motivation has come to me in two ways in the past year which I will tell you about.

At the beginning of January 2009 Zoe, the daughter of my life long friends Ian and Nikki, was diagnosed with a very rare lung tumour. She's only 7 years old by the way. After 3 months in intensive care and on a ventilator she gained enough strength to start a course of chemotherapy to reduce the size of the tumour and eventually remove it. Due to the severe nature of the tumour her right lung was completely removed along with much of her diaphragm. She still has a long way to go and cannot do many of the things that most kids do at 7. But throughout the past year Zoe has been truly amazing. She has managed to fight her way back from a point that many others won't.

Of course, this couldn't have happened without the incredible efforts of the team at St Georges Hospital. Ian and Nicki cannot praise the consultants and doctors there enough without whom, well let's not even go there. Any money that you donate on this page will go directly to the hospital to pay for equipment and staff training so more families are as fortunate as they have been and many more sick children survive cancer.

My second form of motivation comes from the unexpected loss of my cousin Paul Hayes just after Xmas last year. He was little over 40 years old. I'll always remember Paul. He was a happy-go-lucky person who loved his family, holidays (don't we all!) and sports. He worked hard his whole life to make sure his 3 children got what they needed. Sadly, after his usual "winning" round of golf he returned home to take a shower and had an asthma attack that was so lethal he never survived.

It was never obvious that Paul had asthma so severe that it would eventually kill him. It was a massive shock to our family as you can imagine. Asthma affects nearly 10% of the UK population, many friends I know have asthma that is much more severe than Paul's ever seemed. Asthma UK uses over £3 million from donations per year which is invested into finding the cause and ways to cure Asthma. Any donations made to my second page (click the link below) will go directly to helping make sure other families do not lose a loved one in the same way we have.

To donate to Asthma UK click this the link below:

www.justgiving.com/royboy-burdett

So, please dig deep and donate to these charities. I would ask that you split any donation evenly between the two charities I am running for as each is as important to me as the other. However, if you feel more strongly about one charity then please give generously to that. 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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Thanks! And wish me luck!!!