'Andy's Angels'

A good friend of mine, Andy, who I’ve know since I was about 13, was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in his right femur in early last year. Since then he has had the primary tumour removed by replacing his right knee with a Titanium one and had six months of chemotherapy.

In November 2008 Andy had secondary tumours removed from both lungs, and is now finishing a course of radiotherapy to his leg. He’s not free from Cancer yet so will be closely observed over the coming months.

Andy’s blog gives a full and frank account of this stage of his life.
One of my other friends, Stuart – who I blogged about previously here - from the same time has stepped up to the plate and responded.

In a recent e-mail Stuart said this:

I have been profoundly impacted by my friends fight, having already lost my uncle Roger at the age of 47 to this horrific disease. So, I have decided to use something that I enjoy doing in order to raise as much money and profile as I can for Andy's chosen charities. So, throughout 2009, I will be running a series of races, varying in distance from 10k (6 miles) to Half-marathon (13 miles). Having done two marathons in the past both my knees and the rest of me will enjoy, and be able to achieve far more mileage, by avoiding a third!!

The race series starts THIS Saturday with the National Cross Country Championships, Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath, London.

Andy's wife Sara and sister Lyndsay also run and so we have all come together under the banner of 'Andy's Angels' and you can follow our progress by visiting
'Andy's Angels' already have 5 races in the diary with more to follow!

There are two ways that you can support these efforts:

You can become an 'Active Angel' and join the AA team of runners (and have your very own AA running vest!) and help raise money for the charities.

If this interests you I’d be happy to hook you up.

Or, secondly, please consider becoming an 'Angelic Sponsor' through donation.

A site has been set up where donating is made as simple as possible - we can even claim the tax back from Gordon B via the click of a Gift Aid button. So please visit here

Any donations will be regarded as a donation to the 'race series' as a whole irrespective of how many races are finally run by the team throughout 2009.
You can follow all the events, get in touch, make suggestions and comments all via Andy's blog:

Follow on Twitter @Andys_Angels

Any help, support and monies, of course, will be gratefully received!

Not only by Andy and his 'Angels' but by the host of charities and other families that will be helped by your generosity as we continue to fight this horrific disease.