Welcome to my blog!  My plan yesterday was to blog for 26 days using the alphabet A to Z as a guide for the content.  That would have taken me to 25th May, the day before my walk of Hadrian’s Wall commences.   However, Chris and I were playing a game we used to play with our children on long car journeys “I can see something beginning with…..”  On analysis, it appears I might struggle with certain letters! Guess what….K, J, Q, U, X, Y and Z are not necessarily the problem!   I’m still intending to do this but may cover more than one letter in a single blog, thus now requiring less than 26 days in the lead up to the walk.

You’ve probably heard the term “I’m not doing this for the good of my own health” ?   Well in my case I am!  But not just my own health – for others too.  Monies received will be donated to PLANETS Charity www.planetscharity.org   My wife Chris is walking with me.

This fundraising lark is a bit difficult despite being a ‘no brainer’ to me. I suspect the walk might be easier (to be confirmed!).  A lot of people are collecting for a lot of good causes – particularly on Twitter, so this type of post/tweet is often ignored.  Don’t get me wrong, some of my friends and family have been very generous and I’ve even had donations from people I’ve never met.   Ex Army guys too have been generous not just with their money but with their time and contacts too – even some old muckers who I’ve not been in contact with for some years.  But that is an army trait, you can meet up with someone you knew a long time ago and pick up where you left off despite not having been in regular contact.   Old army mates will be walking sections of the wall with Chris and I (Nick Naylor, Dave Taylor and Jim Waterson) and Bernie Rigby is volunteering to abseil down the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth (rather her than me!).  Colleagues at work have also contributed generously with Stephanie Mitchell baking cakes with plans to bake more, Helen Webb for collecting sponsorship money, Alex Amy and Jo Howitt for arranging a cake sale in the Southampton office canteen but also for helping to collect sponsorship money.  I am truly humbled.

I recently ‘opened up’ about my condition and approached the media for some coverage. I was lucky to get this article in a local newspaper which was also copied to their website and twitter:

www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/11166341.Father_with_incurable_cancer_urging_people_to_back_scanner_call/

The donation site has already been mentioned but if you would like to sign the scanner e-petition, this can be done here:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/56106 (edit – now closed and unobtainable)

If you like what I’m doing please follow and share this blog and where applicable, please also like and comment /share my Facebook and Twitter posts (see @ronnyallan1).

I’m very grateful for your support.

……………..now to think of ‘things beginning with A’ for tomorrows blog.

Ronny