Hello all! If you've come this far then you'll probably already know there's a bunch of us running 10k, but you may not know what we're doing it for.

Our friend and colleague Nick and his wife Emily had a little girl, Cindy Florence, in April 2012. At around eight months old, Cindy was taken very ill, very suddenly. After fighting like a trooper, she sadly passed away last February, two months shy of her first birthday.

During her illness, Nick and Em relocated to Newcastle so they could be with their little girl in hospital there. Fortunately for both of them, their employers were a great help, and they were not burdened financially by having to stop working. But this is sadly not the case for others who have to go through what they did.

When Cindy died, Nick and Em set up the Cindy Appleyard Foundation to raise money to help parents who are in a similar situation to the one they were in - having to quit work and either travel very long distances or pay for accommodation just so they can be with their seriously ill children in hospital. It is a financial burden that stretches some almost to breaking point at a time when they simply don't have a choice. The foundation has already helped a number of parents in real financial difficulty and, with your generosity, it can help many more.

So dig deep folks. It means an awful lot to us, and I'm sure it'll mean an awful lot to Nick and Emily. All the money goes directly to people who desperately need it during their darkest days.

A massive thank-you in advance from all of us doing the run.