My best mate's mum passed away after her second battle with cancer a few years ago.

I'd known her for a number of years and she was a tough lady having raised three kids through two marriages, often whilst battling breast - but she had a cracking sense of humor and most of memories were of her with a smile, or making others laugh.

I've raised funds for charity by doing fun runs and various events, but it got to the point where I was always going back to the same group of friends and colleagues to sponsor me, and after a number of years the funds were starting to dry up! So as I work in web, I decided to come up with a new approach to fundraising that didn't involve me having to ask for sponsors - instead I decided to raise smiles - and then I'd find businesses to sponsor each smile and the business would pay the funds to charity.

This seemed to tie in nicely with the memories of my mate's mum, and I love the idea of inspiring people to smile more - even in the toughest of times, a smile seems to have the power to spread some happiness.

And so Smileathon was born, and I'm raising funds for BCRF to support them in their efforts to find a cure for breast cancer, along with a couple of other charities close to my heart - Smile Train and Charity Water.

Thanks for your support!