This October will mark 18 years since I (David) was diagnosed with advanced, stage 4, non-Hodgkins lymphoma. On 8th Oct 2007 I was admitted to the UCLH Haematology department and had a very bumpy ride for over a year with cycles of chemotherapy, major surgeries, total body irradiation and a bone marrow transplant.

Our children were very young, Louis had just started primary school, Maya was 3yrs old and Lola only 8 months old. Through this year we were dependent on the kindness and support of our friends and family, especially Sam’s wonderful parents Leonard and Meera.

Throughout my treatment we were struck by what little resources there were to help our (then) very young family cope with their father being critically unwell and pretty much removed from their lives for over a year. Sam was offered counselling, we were given some leaflets on talking to children about cancer, but that was about it.

On 12th Oct 2025 we will be running the Royal Parks Half marathon. We are going to be raising funds to support Haematology Cancer Care, the UCLH charity that supports patients with blood cancers. We have discussed with them about using the funds raised to support the families of cancer patients. We also have started a dialogue with the wider MacMillan Support team at UCH sharing our experiences.

As we train to sweat our way around the 13.1 mile course we are asking for your generosity to help raise money for a cause that is so close to our hearts. We hope that through this others, who might find themselves in a similar situation, have a better experience.

Many thanks,

David and Sam