Having ran the Paris marathon in 2019 and ran 5k every day for a year between 2020 and 2021, I want to do get back to raising money for this amazing charity. As some of you may know, I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) when I was three years old in December 1989. Being so young at the time, I don’t really have many memories of that period of my life. I just remember being in hospital a lot around the age of 5 and then almost all throughout my school life for regular check-ups.

Thankfully, I was one of the lucky ones and I responded well to treatment. I went into remission within three months but they had to complete the course of treatment. During my time being treated, I was briefly on the Borchardt Ward at the same time as Rosie Larkin, the little girl who inspired the Children’s Cancer Research Fund (Friends of Rosie). My mum tells me that Rosie and I were of a similar age when we were on the ward together.

A lot of my memories of the time are actually quite happy ones. I was fortunate to be a part of a trip to Mora, Sweden in December 1990. During the trip Granada Reports and Bob Greaves took a group of children to meet Father Christmas and the reindeer.

And I will also never forget a boy from my nursery wanting to look like me when I was going through chemo and shaving his head! Indeed that kind of togetherness is something which is embodied by this charity and it’s why I am really pleased to be able to support it.

I’ve been pretty healthy since remission and had no relapses thankfully. The leukaemia has not affected my life and fortunately I have had no side effects. In fact, I would like to think I have lived a pretty full life since.

I did fairly well at school and went on to study French at university, living in France for a while, working mainly as a translator. Later, I then trained as a teacher back in the UK and taught French at a special school for autistic children. I then worked as a French teacher in Muscat, Oman in the Middle East and now work at an independent school in Ballarat, Australia.

This year I’m going to run the Ballarat half marathon to try and raise a few quid to help fund cancer research. It’s the furthest I’ve ran for about 4 years so don’t expect too much from me :-)

Thanks for reading.

Dan