Just before Christmas 2015, my world was rocked forever... I remember dropping the phone and breaking down after hearing my Dad had just been diagnosed with a brain tumour and being advised to fly home to see him before he underwent surgery in the next few days. By New Year's Eve Dad was diagnosed with a Grade IV Glioblastoma brain tumour and given maybe six months to live.

And that was it, life changed forever.

Dad was fit and healthy otherwise, but we were told that there was no cure and treatment would just help manage quality of life for as long as possible. So the hard journey started and Dad faced it head on but rooted in his faith, supported tirelessly by my Mum.

I can't put into words how much Dad meant and means to my family, but he was a rock, always there. He was a man of faith, a man of integrity, a loving Husband to my Mum, Dad to me and my brothers, Grandpa to his seven grandchildren, brother, uncle, boss and mentor, and through all and to lots of people a true friend.

On 11th June 2016, heartbreakingly Dad lost his battle with cancer and life changed forever, again…

Those who know me, know that I did an ultra marathon one year after my Dad died to raise funds for brain tumour research and pretty much said it was a one off… but that year of training and the event itself kept me afloat.

Time has passed; I’ve kept running long distances for ‘pleasure’ and head space, but there is still a huge gap where my Dad should be. I miss him dearly, I miss hearing him saying ‘son’, I miss his laugh. But I am not alone … since my Dad died, tens of thousands of people have been diagnosed with a brain tumour and that is heart-breaking.

So what am I doing…well after having to pull out of London last year due to injury, I've worked hard to get back in shape (even with turning 40 in 2020!) and want to complete the challenge for such a cause. It's nearly four years since I actually ran to raise money, so I’m running the London Marathon to try and help some of the 44 people a day who hear the stomach dropping news I heard.

Why London? It’s a marathon major and attracts people's attention.

Why a £3900 target?  It's a lot, I know, but one day of research in a Brain Tumour  Research centre of excellence costs £2740 and we’d like to hit that and go further.

Why not something harder? (after all the last run was 100 miles!) Well, this time is different, I used to train for loooong distance and then the idea was to train for speed for London 2020, but then injury struck and it has taken me most of the last year to get back to a point where a marathon distance is a possibility...so honestly, it's about simply finishing this one and if I can hobble along quickly - all the better...but the real focus is on raising the profile of Brain Tumour Research and with your help raising funds so that maybe someone, somewhere, one day, will have more time with their loved one than we had with my Dad.

“I miss you Dad. I’ll run to the memory of you cheering ‘Go on son!’. I won’t break any records, it won’t be pretty, but I’ll run with all my heart to make a difference.”

Malcolm

___________

If you would like to donate directly, please visit: www.braintumourresearch.org and quote 'Malcolm Boyd - D1001204' as a reference. 

If you'd like to, you can follow my training and preparation on Strava and regular updates on Facebook: 

www.strava.com/athletes/5952332

www.facebook.com/malcolm.boyd.7583