Thank you for visiting my fundraising website.  Let me tell you about the event that I am going to compete in, about myself and why I am doing it.......

It is a 153 mile foot race runing across the Sahara Desert in Morocco, in 5/6 days, through midday temperatures reaching 60 degrees celcius and falling to around zero at night.

This event is called the Marathon des Sables.
(www.saharamarathon.co.uk)

Around 600 "nutters" from around the world (approx. 200 from the UK) participate in this awesome event every year and the race itself requires you to carry all your own equipment (i.e. food, water, sleeping bag etc.)everything except for a tent.

The race is divided into stages.  Day 3 is "Dune day" where we will run almost a full marathon over some of the biggest dune formations in the world non stop.  Day 4 is the big one - 50 miles non stop through the day and night over sand, rocks and salt lakes in extreme heat. So needless to say, mental stamina plays as big a part in this as physical endurance.

All of this while being rationed on water and freeze dried food - yum!

So you may think that I am crazy, maybe I am, but while I know that I will suffer like hell - doing the equivalent of over 5 regular marathons in 6 days on trashed feet; carrying a load on my back; cooking for myself in the middle of the Sahara; rough ground; temperatures of up to 120 degrees F; dull and boring food (I'll dream about ice cream and cold beer!) there is, what I feel, is a good reason to compete in this....

....In October 2001, I was living in Northern Ireland, serving in the Armed Forces.  Everything was going fine until I discovered a hard lump on my right testical.  So being the typcial male, I thought that saying nothing would be the best policy and got to thinking that it had always been there and would go away by itself.

The lump did not go away, and a few days later I came to my senses and decided to talk to someone.

After seeing the Military Doctors and a visit to the hospital for some tests and scans, they gave me the news that confirmed my worst fears.  I had testicular cancer and that I needed an operation, and fast, to remove the tumor.

The news sunk in pretty quickly - it definately hit raw nerves and I kept wondering how long I had had the lump.  I tried switching off my feelings to everyone, including myself - a decision I would later regret.

After flying home to my home town of Plymouth, Devon, treatment started immediately and I had undergone the operation which in turn, changed my outlook on life. 

The waiting game was hard when decisions were being made as to whether or not I needed chemotherapy.  It turned out that I was indeed, very lucky in that the tumor was contained.  I remained in remisision for 5 years of which included regular check ups/scans/blood tests.

A year after the operation, the reality of it all hit me.  Losing a testical affected me mentally more than I thought.  I started smoking more, eating more, I shut out my friends and family when really, I needed them more than anything.  My general health started to suffer in a big way.  I needed to sort myself out.....

....so one day, i got up and went for a very long walk - all day and all night. My family were worried sick not knowing where I was.  I had a good long think about how my life was going and more importantly how lucky I had been, and that there are plenty of other people out there who were/and are a lot worse off than I was.

This made me see sense and decided to patch things up and talk with my family for support and get back to living the life I wanted.

I stopped smoking, lost 3 stone and took up running again, things were looking and feeling much better, as if a new spark had reignited within me. I got my life back on track and I am, of course, forever grateful to everyone who helped and stood by me.  Things are fantastic now -I have my fitness back and I came out of remission in June 2006, which made me very happy. 

Now that I am back to my usual self (some would say insane!), I decided I wanted to do something that little bit different.  Raising money for MacMillan would give me that satisfaction and with your donations we can help towards further treatment for cancer sufferers.

The moral of my story is TALK and SHARE with someone if you find anything that does not feel right.  The success rate for testicular cancer is very high, if caught early enough.  Don't be scared to get help, this appies to all kinds of worries and health problems, men and women, but  Forget male pride with this one as there is no shame in showing off your royalty to the doctor!

There are 3 main reasons why I want to compete in the Marathon des Sables...

1) I want to give something back to MacMillan Cancer Support - I really don't care how much I am going to suffer in the desert! there is a saying i live by, when you are going through hell, keep going.

2) The memories and experiences I will encounter - they will be unforgetable and will be a great story for any kids I may have in the future!

3) It is a personal goal of mine to do this race and now that I have got my life back on track, I feel that I can really train hard to seriously compete in this event, not just to finish it, besides, I get pretty bored with everyday life and I always need something extreme to liven things up a bit, it's a great feeling!

I want to prove to myself that I can run with the best, to push myself to the absolute physical and mental limits, then break them and then keep going.  With not much time left to train for this (as the race is march 29- april 4, 2009) I am more than confident that this can happen now, barriers of any kind are there to be broken.

This is the toughest footrace in the world, a once in a lifetime opportunity that I have been waiting for a long time and will be the most important adventure in my life, it will change the way i see things, it's something i'll never forget and will cherish the experience whatever the outcome.
THANK YOU for taking the time to read this - please, please dig deep and sponsor me.  I really hope that we can reach the target of £5,000, if not more.  I am creating a website to keep everyone posted on how things are going, i.e. about the Marathon, my training, my diary, and much more.   The website is currently under development - the address will be on here shortly.

Donations though this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me.  MacMillan Cancer Support will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK tax payer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no extra cost to you.

SO PLEASE SPONSOR ME......

Thank you very much for your kind support.

Steve Elford