I woke this morning at 2.45 a.m. and I have been awake since. Yes, it's going to be a long day. On the radio this morning I heard about a lady who has run around the world to raise money for cancer research and promote cancer awareness. She began her 20,000 mile round the block jog back in 2001. Today she passes through Carlisle and will finish in her home town in Wales later this week. She is doing all this because she lost her husband to cancer and couldn't stand the loneliness. I bet there are a few people out there who may have sponsored her for a pound a mile and might now be regretting it. What a brave lady she is, she certainly will be able to say forever more that she got up off her backside and did something about her plight. The story also reminded me of the lady from Leeds whose name eludes me at present. I know her first name was Jane, and she raised a fortune, running and cycling around Europe for cancer charities, before cancer itself finally killed her just a few months ago. These stories have made me ask myself, what I can do to assist mankind in this fight against this deadly disease. Well I doubt that I will be able to do anything as dramatic as run around the world. 20,000 miles is a hell of a walk for a guide dog, and if I tried to cycle across Europe I would probably cause more problems than I would be likely to resolve. None-the-less, my thinking cap is now on as I have been inspired by these wonderful people. I have no doubt that if they were politicians, they would be knighted, and probably become Lords and Ladies. However, the more likely outcome will be that they will appear on today's news, and then be confined to the archives. The lady who lost her husband to cancer and has now ran around the World, lost her husband because he did not report a lump early enough. Had he done so, he would probably still be with us today.

No one wants to be told they have cancer. I thought I might have cancer for quite a while before I confronted my problems by seeing a doctor. I probably would be dead now if it had not been for Barbara nagging me to go and see a doctor. Cancer usually begins its career by appearing as a small and seemingly insignificant lump somewhere, or in the case of lung cancer, a cough which just gets more and more persistent. In my case I began to start feeling breathless just carrying out my normal daily tasks. If you have developed any of these symptoms go and check them out now with your doctor. If you have a family member or friend, do whatever it takes to make them go and seek medical advice. You will probably save your life or maybe someone else by getting an early diagnosis. Now I usually try to finish with a little humour. So, just to reinforce my point regarding cancer beginning its life in a seemingly insignificant manner, here is a little story which demonstrates this point and comes to me courtesy of Marla in Los Angeles, USA.

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

What food might this contain? The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:

There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, 'Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me.'' I cannot be bothered by it.'

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, 'There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!'

The pig sympathized, but said, I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.Be assured you are in my prayers.'

The mouse turned to the cow and said 'There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!'

The cow said, 'Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose.'

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main

Ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.

So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

This is Tom Glassey with News from that timeless zone on the banks of the Silverburn River.