The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. The award is given "for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity", and the winner is selected by BBC Sport. The award is named after the BBC sports presenter Helen Rollason, who died in August 1999 at the age of 43 after suffering from cancer. After her diagnosis, she helped raise more than £5 million to set up a cancer wing at the North Middlesex Hospital, where she received most of her treatment. The inaugural recipient of the award was horse trainer Jenny Pitman, in 1999. Several recipients have not played a sport professionally. Michael Watson, who won the award in 2003, had a career in boxing but was paralysed and almost killed in a title bout with Chris Eubank. He won the award for completing the London Marathon, an accomplishment that took him six days. Former footballer Geoff Thomas (pictured) won the award in 2005; he raised money by cycling the 2,200 miles (3,500 km) of the 2005 Tour de France course in the same number of days as the professionals completed it. (This list is part of a featured topic: BBC Sports Personality of the Year.)