Story
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Way back in September late one night over a few too many glasses of wine, me and Adam decided we were going to sign up to run a half marathon to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. I imagined how my dad would be waiting at the finish line for us, already with a cocktail in hand, laughing at our sweaty red faces! However, as most of you reading this will know, in just one horrible week in November everything turned upside down.
Barry Donovan, my wonderful brave Dad, passed away on the 20th November 2016 in hospital, just a few hours after he'd been singing to my mum and cracking jokes with the nurses.
I'm not sure how we all got through the first few weeks after - time just passed in a weird painful blur while we tried to figure out how to carry on when everything was different. Even now, it only feels like a couple of weeks since we were all sat in the hospital chatting about what the West Ham score would be.
Dad lived with cancer for nearly 3 years with all of its ups and downs. He fought it like a hero but the most heartbreaking part for me was near the end, even as the bravest man I've ever met, he knew this was the one battle he wasn't going to win.
I wanted to drop out of the race completely not too long ago. I stopped going for runs and missed a lot of the training I wanted to do. Then, on the 3rd of January, my wonderful Grandad passed away after a short battle with cancer.
It's been a really hard few months for our family.
However I know we are far from being the only family affected by cancer. And that's why, even though me and Adam have had to swap down to the 10k event, I'm still determined to raise some money for Macmillan.
Sponsoring us won't bring any of our loved ones back. Dad never got to see us move into our new house, and I know they'll be so many more times in the future I wish he was there to see. But what sponsoring us (even just a couple of quid!) will do is spur us on to run that little bit faster! It'll raise money for a fantastic charity which works with both those with cancer and their families, as well as providing a massive resource of information and support on everything from first diagnosis to bereavement.
It's all too easy at times like this to give up and talk about how cruel life is, or how unfair things are. So let's do something positive, raise a bit of money to help other people going through similar things, and I promise I'll even upload a sweaty red-faced photo when we cross the finish line!
Thank you to everyone who's been so supportive over the last few months... you know who you are and you're all amazing x x x x x x x
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs.
Way back in September late one night over a few too many glasses of wine, me and Adam decided we were going to sign up to run a half marathon to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. I imagined how my dad would be waiting at the finish line for us, already with a cocktail in hand, laughing at our sweaty red faces! However, as most of you reading this will know, in just one horrible week in November everything turned upside down.
Barry Donovan, my wonderful brave Dad, passed away on the 20th November 2016 in hospital, just a few hours after he'd been singing to my mum and cracking jokes with the nurses.
I'm not sure how we all got through the first few weeks after - time just passed in a weird painful blur while we tried to figure out how to carry on when everything was different. Even now, it only feels like a couple of weeks since we were all sat in the hospital chatting about what the West Ham score would be.
Dad lived with cancer for nearly 3 years with all of its ups and downs. He fought it like a hero but the most heartbreaking part for me was near the end, even as the bravest man I've ever met, he knew this was the one battle he wasn't going to win.
I wanted to drop out of the race completely not too long ago. I stopped going for runs and missed a lot of the training I wanted to do. Then, on the 3rd of January, my wonderful Grandad passed away after a short battle with cancer.
It's been a really hard few months for our family.
However I know we are far from being the only family affected by cancer. And that's why, even though me and Adam have had to swap down to the 10k event, I'm still determined to raise some money for Macmillan.
Sponsoring us won't bring any of our loved ones back. Dad never got to see us move into our new house, and I know they'll be so many more times in the future I wish he was there to see. But what sponsoring us (even just a couple of quid!) will do is spur us on to run that little bit faster! It'll raise money for a fantastic charity which works with both those with cancer and their families, as well as providing a massive resource of information and support on everything from first diagnosis to bereavement.
It's all too easy at times like this to give up and talk about how cruel life is, or how unfair things are. So let's do something positive, raise a bit of money to help other people going through similar things, and I promise I'll even upload a sweaty red-faced photo when we cross the finish line!
Thank you to everyone who's been so supportive over the last few months... you know who you are and you're all amazing x x x x x x x
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs.