Northern Echo reporter Katie Bowman's fundraising run tomorrow will bring back poignant memories of much-missed grandparents.

WHEN I was just a few months old I lost my first grandparent to cancer - an illness I wasn't able to comprehend for years, but one that cut my gran's life short and made mine that little bit emptier.

Twenty-two years on and I recently said farewell to my last surviving grandparent, a well-respected man whose 84 years were filled with adventure, struggles and a great deal of time for his family.

My granddad, Kenneth Bowman, held his hands up to cancer in April and bravely let the illness end his life.

It was this loss that led me to enter the Great North Run.

Training for the event has been hard work, but I couldn't tell you which was harder - completing a long, tiring gym session or dealing with the guilt when reaching for the biscuit tin.

My greatest satisfaction, however, will be from knowing that I have raised money for a very worthwhile charity, Macmillan Cancer Relief, and it will go towards a nurses appeal in my local town of Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

Tomorrow, I am hoping to disprove my own doubts at being able to complete the course, but more importantly, I'm hoping to give something back in memory of four wonderful grandparents and a much missed godparent, Doug Marshall.

To make a donation, please contact Kate Bowman on (01642) 706011.