In July last year, my Dad, Mark Beckwith was diagnosed with Stage 3 bowel cancer and a further unrelated diagnosis of prostate cancer in August. Although he is now recovering amazingly, he had a rough journey along the way and I couldn't thank the staff on the Henderson Suite at West Cumberland Hospital enough for looking after him throughout his course of chemotherapy in-between his two big operations. I think we can all say we know of someone who has been affected by cancer and the horrendous feeling and reality of what cancer can cause. Anyone who has had a friend, relative or loved one visit the Henderson Suite will know how warm, caring and kind the staff are on there and how much they do for every single patient and family member who walks through the doors of the ward. Another thing that got me through was my love for running and rugby, although I now focus on my running, I also coach the U7s youth team for Egremont Rangers which my son plays for. Seeing all the kids in the team looking forward to each training session and each match takes me back to my dad taking me to rugby training when I was younger.
I usually enjoy taking part in ultra marathons where races consist of a 4 mile loop each hour on the hour until there's only one runner left, my current record is 26 loops/hours. However the last one I entered in April got cancelled due to weather conditions, therefore I was left feeling a need to fill it's place and so I have decided to run around every rugby league club in Cumbria. Starting at Walney Rugby Club and finishing at Aspatria Rugby Pitch with 19 more clubs in-between, working out at around 106 miles. I plan to do this on the 1st June and to raise a lot of money to go towards both the Henderson Suite and my U7s team. Any donations would be extremely grateful, and if anyone would like to run alongside me at any point, that would be a great help too.