Errol McKellar
Errol McKellar is a car mechanic who owns a garage in Hackney, London and was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010. He didn't have any symptoms read a leaflet in the waiting room of his GP and asked to be tested. His PSA level came back a bit high and further tests revealed he had prostate cancer. In February 2011 Errol had an operation to remove his prostate and went on to have three months of radiotherapy and has now been given the all clear, although he is dealing with some side effects from his treatment.
As well as being a youth team coach at Leyton Orient FC and a passionate advocate of community activity and support for young people, Errol has spoken to thousands of men and helped save the lives of almost 30 of his customers who would not otherwise have been aware they had prostate cancer. He encourages men who come into his garage to go and speak to their GP about their risk and have a PSA test, and in return he offers them discounts on their MOT.
"I say to my customers, when was the last time you had your prostate checked? You brought your car in here for me to check because there's a problem. Do you know what's going on in your own inside? Men need to talk about it – even if they don't want to. I talk to men of all ages. I talk to women too – because they get the message across to their men. I try and spread the message every single day. I want to reach men before it's too late. I really believe we can beat this."
Alfred Samuels
Alfred Samuels has written a remarkable book, 'Invincibility In The Face Of Prostate Cancer - Coming Out The Other Side', about his life since being diagnosed with stage four advanced metastatic prostate cancer in January 2012. His mission to now to challenge men's attitudes and the taboo surrounding prostate cancer.
The book is based on the diaries that has kept since 2012 and is an astonishingly raw, emotional and inspirational story of how the condition has impacted on his body, mind, family, work, finances and approach to life.
There is also a beautiful love story at the heart of it and the great news is that Alfred's PSA level is now negligible and his health is good and he has been able to resume his career as a security advisor who specialises in the music industry with clients ranging from Bob Dylan, Sade and Spandau Ballet to Oasis, Rod Stewart and Beyonce.
Suzanne Packer
Suzanne Packer is one of Britain's best known actresses having played the role of Tess Batemen in the BBC One series Casualty between 2003 and 2015. She is also the elder sister of Colin Jackson and is the co-founder of Go Dad Run.
Suzanne attended the National Youth Theatre of Wales before graduating in theatre and drama from the University of Warwick and then training at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Embarking on an acting career, in the early 1990's she was most well known for her role as Mick Johnson's wife Josie in the Ch4 soap Brookside. She then undertook a degree in teaching at Goldsmith's College and after graduating in 1996 taught drama in London.
In September 2003 she was first seen on screen as Sister Tess Bateman on the BBC1 medical series Casualty and was one of their leading cast members until 2015. Suzanne has become a member of the cast of Stella and of Doctors and will be our ambassador at the Sanlam Go Dad Run 5K in Warrington on Sunday June 14th.
Dan Olsen
Dan Olsen is a singer-songwriter and runner who came 3rd in the 2015 Go Dad Run 5K in London. He spent the first 19 years of his life in the Faroe Islands where he represented their national U21 team at football before moving to Denmark and Australia to study Business.
After finishing his degree he decided to follow his passion of music and moved to Sydney where he played in pubs and bars and then relocated to London in 2014. During the past two years he has been writing songs and playing shows all around the UK, as well as taking part in a 20 date stadium tour in Russia and he's just finished recording his new album in Nashville.
In April 2016 Dan signed his first major UK record deal with Trillion Records,Universal Music Group, and he has just signed one of the largest record contract deals for a Western artist in China with Ru Records and will be touring around China in June 2016.
Manoj Shah
Manoj Shah is a Senior Bank Manager whose life was dramatically changed when he and his family became members of the cast of the Sky Living constructed reality series, Desi Rascals.
The first series was broadcast in January 2015 and chronicles the lives of a multi-generational cast within the British-Asian community. The next series will be filmed this summer.
Manoj lives in Harrow, and had his life changed equally dramatically when he developed a prostate problem. For a while it was thought that he may be suffering from prostate cancer until he received a final diagnosis of a swollen prostate. He now has very regular check ups and is adapting his diet and lifestyle and is delighted to be a part of the Sanlam Go Dad Run ambassadorial team. He is going to be running in Southwark Park on Father's Day, June 21st.
Donovan Bailey
Donovan Bailey is an international sporting legend and one of the greatest and most successful and respected sprinters of all time. The double Olympic and three-time World Champion became the fastest man in history when he set a new world record of 9.84 seconds in the 1996 Olympic 100m final.
Born in Jamaica Donovan moved to Canada when he was ten and didn’t take up sprinting until his mid 20s. In 1995 he won the 100m World Championship title and the following year attained the highest peak speed by any human when he reached a staggering 27.07 mph on his way to Olympic 100m gold in Atlanta.
He also won 4 x 100m World, Commonwealth and Olympic golds and set new world records in the 60m, 100m and 4 x 100m before his career was cut short by injury.
Donovan is an accomplished international broadcaster and a successful businessman and, having lost very close family members to prostate cancer, is a big supporter of Go Dad Run.
Derek Redmond
Derek Redmond enjoyed a long and successful athletics career during the 1980s and 1990s which saw him break the British 400m record twice and challenge American dominance of the event. He was a prominent member of the British 4 x 400 metre relay squad that took gold at the 1991 World Championships, the 1986 European Championships and the Commonwealth Games of the same year.
He is perhaps best remembered for an incident during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics 400m semi-final which in 2012 was voted the 3rd greatest Olympic moment in history in a poll of viewers of the US broadcaster NBC. Even President Barack Obama once referred directly to Derek’s perseverance on the day as a prime example of the Olympic ideal.
Tipped as one of the favourites for gold, Derek unfortunately tore a hamstring on the back straight but, full of determination, picked himself up to somehow finish the race. He and his father, Jim, who had made it through security onto the track to help, were cheered home by the Spanish crowd in incredible scenes that summed up the power of the human spirit.
The injury Derek sustained that day was worse than at first thought and, after seven operations in under two years, he was forced to retire from athletics. However, he isn’t the type of man to give in and, in a resolute response to his specialist saying that he’d never represent his country again, Derek went on to play basketball for England and is now a succesful businessman and motivational speaker.
Colin Jackson CBE
Colin Jackson is, without a doubt, one of the greatest athletes that Great Britain has ever produced. Before retiring in 2003 Colin was an outdoor World Record holder for 13 years, and still holds the World Indoor 60m title.
Bursting onto the scene whilst setting a European junior record of 13.44 in 1986, Colin ranked in the world top 10 for 16 years, and for the last 7 of his career was never out of the top 3.
Colin has been an integral part of the BBC Athletics coverage since the Athens Olympics, covering every major event, including the London 2012 Olympics. Other TV highlights include co-hosting the BBC1 live morning show Sunday Life as well as dazzling us all with his dancing skills on Strictly Come Dancing – thrilled to make it, by public vote, into the final. His many other appearances include Who Do You Think You Are, Born to Win, A Question of Sport and co-hosting the Sport Relief Mile Show.
In 2012 Colin launched the Red Shoes Academy, in partnership with the Welsh Government department of Education and Skills, leading a group of elite sport ambassadors in Wales to visit schools and colleges and inspire and motivate the next generation. 2013 saw Colin launch his own mass participation event in aid of prostate cancer, Go Dad Run, on Fathers Day. After the success of the inaugural event, 2014 saw runs take place in Cardiff, Birmingham and London. Colin also joined forces with Red Bull Wings for Life World Run campaign as a Global Ambassador.
Jamie Baulch
Born in Nottingham in 1973, Jamie is one of a select band of only 12 Welsh athletes to have won an Olympic athletics medal, winning silver in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
His finest achievement came in the world indoor championships in Maebashi, Japan in 1999, when he won in 45.73 secs, beating Milton Campbell (USA) by just over a quarter of a second. An indication of his superb form as an indoor 400m runner can be gauged by the fact that the UK record of 45.39 set when he won the UK indoor title in 1997, still stands today.
Whilst the indoor arena was clearly his favourite, he was a key member of the UK 4 x 400m relay team that took an Olympic silver medal in Atlanta (1996) and European gold in 1998 (Budapest) & 2002 (Munich). He also won silver as part of Britain’s 1997 silver medal winning 4 x 400m team in the Athens World Championships, although belatedly he has become a world championship gold medallist as the USA’s Antonio Pettigrew failed a retrospective drug test and the British team has been elevated to world champions. He competed 29 times for Britain in full international matches in a career spanning 12 years.
Jamie retired in 2005 aged 32, and had already started to forge a career in TV whilst still competing. He has hosted his own show and appeared on Superstars and the acclaimed 2014 BBC documentary ‘Looking for my Birth Mum’. He is now a much sought after motivational speaker for schools, sports clubs and businesses.
Mark Foster
Mark Foster burst onto the International swimming scene at the age of 16, representing England at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He went on to represent his country for 23 years and became Britain’s most decorated male swimmer.
Throughout his remarkable career, he has won 47 major international medals; competed in 5 Olympics, been 6 times World Champion, 11 times European champion, 2 times Commonwealth champion and broke the World Record 8 times. He was also chosen as the flag bearer to lead out Team GB at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Since retiring from swimming, Mark Foster has become a familiar face on television and his award winning BBC TV partnership with Clare Balding from the aquatics centre during the Olympics in 2012, made him a household name.
Mark’s took part in ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ in 2008 and has been a regular participant on Countdown, Question of Sport, Come Dine With Me and Celebrity Masterchef as well as a host of other charity shows and campaigns.
Fernando Montaño
Fernando Montaño was born in Colombia and at the age of 12 joined the only ballet school in the country, Cali's Incolballet, where he discovered his great love and talent for dance. Just two years later he won a scholarship to the prestigious National Ballet School of Cuba before moving to Italy to train and perform at La Scala, Milan.
In 2006 Fernando became the first Colombian to join the Royal Ballet and in 2014 he was promoted to soloist. He made his debut in a Principal role in November 2015's performance of 'The Two Pigeons'.
As well as his work with the Royal Ballet, Fernando choreographs, produces and dances in a number of projects of his own including 'Alchemy' for his close friend and mentor Dame Vivienne Westwood. He is the founder of The Classical Cabaret, a collective of leading multi-national performers drawn from the worlds of ballet, opera and classical music.
Fernando has joint British-Colombian nationality and is a patron of the charity Children Change Colombia. In October 2014, at the invitation of President Santos, he performed 'The Dying Swan' at the Presidential Palace in Bogota for HRH Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall during their State visit.
In 2016 he took a sabbatical to return home to spend time with his family for the first time in 16 years. Whilst there he was a judge on the inaugural Colombian series of 'Dancing with the Stars' and the subject of a BBC TV documentary, 'Dancing for Peace'.
Leon Taylor
Olympic silver medalist Leon Taylor took up competitive diving when he was eight and by the age of eleven he was a national champion. In the Athens Olympics of 2004, Leon and his diving partner Peter Waterfield, managed to secure Britain's first medal in the sport for 44 years.
It was an honour which led to additional investment in the sport and the development of a new crop of British talent. He also won World Championship silver, Commonwealth silver and bronze and European bronze.
Retiring from diving in May 2008, Leon is now an integral part of the BBC Sports Olympic coverage and has also been mentor to, among others, diving sensation Tom Daley.
Dave Thompson
Dave Thompson is a Design Technology teacher whose life was changed in 2014 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Having undergone a Radical Prostatectomy he ran in the 2105 London Go Dad Run and was joined by 15 friends and family as part of Team Daving at the 2016 event in Southwark Park.
Dave had long been aware that he was in a high risk group because his father, uncle and cousin had all developed prostate cancer and from the age of 40 he always had an annual PSA test with his GP. When he went for a blood test in late September 2014 at the age of 52 he was expecting the usual swift confirmation of an all clear but was instead immediately referred to a consultant as his PSA levels were high.
After taking advice on the various options available he saw Chris Ogden at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London and had his prostate removed just a few weeks later. After the operation Dave discovered just how lucky he had been. There was a large tumour inside his prostate and had he left it much later it would almost certainly have spread which is why he is passionate about encouraging men to get themselves checked and be aware of the problems that prostate cancer can cause.
Kiran Sharma
Kiran Sharma is the former Global Manager of the late global icon, Prince, who she managed from 2008 to 2014. She is also owner and Managing Director of KIKIT Entertainment, a leading artist management company that also stages events, tours and A-List artist celebrity bookings worldwide.
Since launching KIKIT in 2005, Kiran has also established KIKIT as one of the industry's most important celebrity booking agencies, with a roster that includes Paloma Faith, Mary J Blige, James Corden, Annie Lennox, Bryan Ferry, AR Rahman, Laura Mvula, Taio Cruz, David Gray, Leona Lewis, Nicole Scherzinger, Beverley Knight, Nile Rodgers and many more.
Fiercely proud of her British-Indian descent, Kiran credits much of her success to the support of her family, particularly her parents. In 2015, Kiran tragically lost her father, Ravi Prakash Sharma, to his 7 year battle with advanced prostate cancer. She is thrilled to be an ambassador for Go Dad Run and is passionate about raising awareness of the disease and wants to increase the number of men that have check ups on a regular basis.
