Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page - raising money for brain tumour research via Alder Hey's Imagine Appeal's Oncology Fund.
The words on this page are being written by the Auntie of an amazing young lady called Hannah Jones.
Hannah is 17 years old and has been battling a cancerous brain tumour since August 2008. Hannah has had 3 operations to remove a 7cm tumour, 6 weeks of radiotherapy and over 12 months of intensive chemotherapy. During the 3rd operation Hannah had a stroke, which initially left her paralysed down her left side, but thanks to intensive physiotherapy and a lot of hard work, Hannah learnt to walk again.
Hannah has been left with left-sided weakness, but it's not stopped her from enjoying life and raising funds (over £120k in total, so far, for Alder Hey's Imagine Appeal Oncology Fund and the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust. Luke has helped raised almost £10k of this!)
Hannah also wants to raise awareness into the lack of research into brain tumours. Less than 2% of cancer research funding is spent on brain tumour research and because of this progress isn't as rapid as other more 'popular' cancers and too many children and adults are dying! Hannah's Oncologist, Dr Barry Pizer, at Alder Hey is conducting further research into causes and cures of cancerous brain tumours.
In 2010 Hannah lost two very dear friends to brain tumours; 19 year old Christie Butler and 13 year old Annie Kell. Both were beautiful young ladies with so much to live for. Their parents and siblings have been left absolutely devastated, their lives will never be the same again!
Luke, Suzanne and their lovely boys became a part of Hannah's life in 2008, when they invited Hannah, her younger sister Molly and parents to stay with them at Hotel De La Mer in Babbacombe. They had the most wonderful holiday that they'll never forget and since then, thanks to Luke and Suzanne's kindness, they've had some further magnificent memories to add to their collection.
To read more about the amazing work that the Torbay Holiday Helpers Network does please visit; www.thhn.co.uk.
So - what is Luke doing to (yet again!) help such a worthy cause? He's only running a mere 73km! On top of everything else he's doing!
Sunday 1st May - Great Western Run, Exeter - 21km (Completed in 1.44 and with a bad calf too!)
Sunday 15th May - BUPA Great Manchester Run - 10km. (Completed in 45mins 08 secs)
Sunday 29th May - Plymouth Half Marathon - 21km
Sunday 11th September - Bristol Half Marathon - 21km
I'm sure anyone that knows Luke will want to support him, he's such an amazingly kind and generous guy, doing so much good for so many good causes.
This cause is obviously very close to our family's hearts; Hannah is such a fun-loving kind-hearted young lady, with an amazing zest for life and a wicked sense of humour! We want her to live a very long, healthy and happy life and we don't want any family to have to go through what Christie and Annie's family are going through.
Please support Luke in whateverway you can.
PS - Thank you Suzanne for your kindness and support too - you're an amazing family!
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