In May 2023, my brilliantly talented and wickedly funny cousin Poppy Chancellor was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. On 29th September 2023, barely 5 months after diagnosis, Poppy died with her family next to her, aged 36. Our hearts were broken.

Poppy was a one of a kind. An incredibly talented artist by profession, but a whole lot more. A singer. A dancer. An impressionist. A comedian. A songwriter. A poet. A wife. A daughter. A sister. Her personality lit up any room. She carried these talents and traits right through her treatment, exuding good humour throughout. Even in the most trying times, she saw the humour in everything.

Poppy's blood cancer was a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer which needed immediate treatment including a stem cell transplant. Hypoplastic AML is a form of cancer normally found in older people, and Poppy’s course of treatment was not available on the NHS for under 75s. Poppy began fundraising for her treatment raising over £50,000 within a few weeks.

I wanted to put my 20 years as a running enthusiast to use to help Poppy’s fundraising, and immediately thought of the London Marathon. Poppy had already comfortably reached the amount needed to fund her treatment, so she put me in touch with Anthony Nolan, the incredible cancer charity who match stem cell donors with blood cancer patients. These lifesaving stem cell transplants are the crucial step in treating AML. Finding a match is the difference between life and death for a blood cancer patient, making their work crucial.

When I was accepted to run the London Marathon 2024 for Anthony Nolan, Poppy was overjoyed, despite being amid grim treatments, and we talked daily about it. On 21st April, I will run my first ever London Marathon in memory of Poppy. Please help me to raise at least £3,000 for Anthony Nolan so that they can continue the incredible work they do for blood cancer patients every day.