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 long years were filled with adventure, struggles and a great deal of time for his family.

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

It was this loss that got me slipping on my trainers and applying to do the Bupa Great North Run before I had a chance to hear the small voice in my head saying: "You can't possibly run 13 miles."

One week before attempting the gruelling race from the Newcastle to South Shields and that niggling voice is still there. 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 I reached for the biscuit tin instead of the running shorts.

My only hope is that all those early mornings in the gym carry me over the finish line of the half marathon and those biscuits provide me with enough energy to survive the experience.

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.

On Sunday, September 21, I am hoping to prove my wretched little voice wrong, 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.