Last year I had the privilege of becoming an Ambassador for the charity DT38, the charity set up in memory of the talented young Australian footballer Dylan Tombides, who lost his brave fight with testicular cancer over 10 years ago.

Dylan was representing Australia during the u17 World Youth Cup, after scoring against the Ivory Coast, Dylan took a random drug test, and the result came back positive for a tumour. It was a further three months before it was revealed to be testicular cancer.

Despite this, Dylan made his debut for West Ham United on 25th September 2012 - the day which also marked my daughter's first birthday.
18th April 2024, Dylan lost his brave fight and DT38 was set up in his memory.

Since I became an ambassador, I wanted to try and make a difference, with the help and support of Dylan’s mum Tracy, and the team at DT38, we came up with the DT38k challenge for this September.

My challenge is to recreate a journey I took in January 1986 when my brother Lloyd and I played truant from school (not clever, don't do it kids) and we walked from Parkwood, Maidstone to Ashford, knee-deep in snow, with the only motivation being a shared walkman playing the Rocky4 soundtrack.

This September (date to be confirmed) I will take the same journey, running, jogging, walking and dragging my little legs 38km to try and raise money to help continue to educate young boys about the need to check their testicles for any abnormal signs.

Delay is deadly, get educated. For all the boys and men in our lives, and for Dylan.

Thank you for reading my story.

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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.