On Sunday 11 October, I will be running the Royal Parks Half Marathon for the CRIS Cancer Foundation.

This will be my third time running for CRIS. I keep coming back because cancer has touched my life, and the lives of people I care about, in more ways than I wish it had.

My dad had colon cancer. We were incredibly lucky. He recovered, and I still have him here today.

I have also seen the other side. I lost both of my grandparents to cancer. A friend of mine lost his wife. Another friend lost her sister. Another lost his mother.

Cancer is never just a diagnosis. It changes whole families, and it takes away birthdays, conversations and completely ordinary days that people wish they could have had more of.

Our lives overlap for only a certain number of years.

We cannot make life infinite. But we might be able to make that overlap longer.

More birthdays. More holidays. More Sunday lunches. More completely ordinary mornings.

More time for a grandparent to know a grandchild. For a parent to watch their child grow up. For someone to stay beside the person they love.

My dad’s recovery is one of the reasons I believe so strongly that research matters. Someone, somewhere, did the work that helped make his outcome possible.

That is why I run for CRIS. They fund research into new cancer treatments, including for patients who do not respond to conventional therapies, and support promising work that might otherwise struggle for funding.

Research gives people more treatment options, and sometimes more time.

So, for the third time, I am putting on my running shoes and covering 13.1 miles through London.

I am running for my dad.

For my grandparents.

For the people my friends have loved and lost.

For everyone dealing with a cancer diagnosis today.

And for all the families hoping for a little more time together.

Any donation, whatever the size, helps fund research that may give patients and their families what matters most:

More time together.

Thank you so much for supporting me, and for supporting a cause I’ve now been proud to run for three times. ❤️