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We're running for our brother Andrew. Who died six months ago today.

I'm here today to race for my mum, who died just over two years ago, to terminal cancer at the age of 59.

I come here because I want to raise money for cancer research so that no one else should have to lose their mum at such a young age in the way that I did.

The whole time I was running, I was just thinking of my nan at that finish line, same as you, family, friends, lost ones.

When you've had cancer, it's like being admitted to a secret club and actually having events like Race for Life, where you meet people who've cancer has generally touched their lives.

It's a wonderful support, actually.

You get to talk about what's happened to you, you get to offer support to people and you get to share experiences, and that's a wonderful sense of community.

I was first diagnosed in 2019, so I was probably about a full year of having the symptoms before I actually went to a doctor. And I think actually, in the back of my mind, I knew something was up, but I was busy with work, with family. So finally, about a year later, I ended up at an NHS breast clinic. They'd taken a biopsy and the doctor said, “Yeah, I think that's cancer.”

I was a bit stunned. I couldn't believe it. I just kind of put it in a box, went to work, did all my afternoon meetings, and then my husband met me and he's like, "How did you get on?" And I was like, "You're not going to believe this, but I think I've got cancer."

And that was the start of the journey.

I felt strongly that I didn't want to tell anybody else, I didn't want to tell my kids, I didn't want to tell my mum and dad. I didn't want to tell work until I knew what it was, until I knew whether it was curable, and at that point, I could start to plan and tell people.

Suddenly you realise you're not immortal and actually, yeah, you might have something that kills you. It was all very scary and surreal, in a sense, I was so fit. People don't associate me with, like, being frail.

My name is Will Wise. I'm originally from Philadelphia, now currently living in London.

I didn't start playing basketball until I was 13, and then junior, senior year, I started getting recruited, and then since then, it was ball is life.

From there, I went on to play professionally, and I just fall in love with the process of becoming great and everything that it takes to be great.

The morning before I got sick, it was just like any other day. After my run, I could tell something was wrong. I was actually vomiting spackled blood. I get to University College Hospital, they find an eight centimetre tumour on my left adrenal gland, and they told me the results of the test and basically that I had stage four cancer, and then, like, the world just stopped.

I didn't have any idea what was going on. I had my first surgery in March where they removed my left adrenal gland, and then I had my second surgery three weeks later. Through this journey, I realised that knowledge is power. Once you have all the knowledge, then you can make the necessary decisions to, you know, put yourself in a better position to succeed.

Cancer Research UK provide fantastic resources for anybody suffering from cancer. So I became aware of them really quite early post my diagnosis.Gradually, as I went through it, I became more and more clear about what was going to happen and actually started to believe, you know what, I'm going to come through this and I'm going to be okay.

And then I became aware of Race for Life, which is one of their main fundraising activities.

Race for Life is a series of running events that run over the summer that are designed to raise money for cancer research.

And in the 30 years that it's been going, its raised almost a billion pounds.

Welcome to Guilford Race for Life.

Welcome, everybody.

Cancer Research UK actually invited me to a Race for Life, and when I got there, I was taken aback by the scale of it, the excitement, the energy.

Thousands of people out there running for a purpose. Exhilarating to see, like, just the love and a sense of community and a sense of hope. Like, everyone's been affected by cancer. Being in that is just fulfilling.

Three, two, one. Let's go for Race for Life.

Standard Life started sponsoring Race for Life in 2023.

I was really thrilled, actually. I think by supporting cancer research, we help recovery rates and hopefully they can one day
maybe even eradicate it so that we can live longer, better lives, and that's really core to the values that Standard Life have.

You're all stars today!

Here comes Will.

He's racing on behalf of Standard Life today so give everyone--

Anybody embarking on this journey, I just want you to know that all pain is temporary.

I promise you, you'll get through it. This test will be your testament, this mess will be your message, and you're not alone.

Here comes Gail in the middle there. Give her a big cheer.

Unfortunately, in 2022, I got cancer again, but I was really lucky.

It was caught up in my annual checks, so they caught it really early.

I'm hoping that's me done with cancer and that I get to look forward to that longer, better life.