Story
Cancer affects everyone – Owen’s story.
Owen Daniel Murray was born on the 23rd November 1981, in London, to Gail and David. He went to St Joseph's Primary school then on to Aloysius College. He was well liked at school and known for his cheeky personality but was always there to help. Following in his Grandfathers footsteps, Owen joined the Royal Green Jackets. His first posting in 2003 was to Iraq, with subsequent tours in Kosovo and Northern Ireland.
Upon leaving the Army, he went on to work in the motor trade for Volvo, Cadillac, Skoda and, most recently, a commercial trainer for Jaguar Land Rover. As well as this, he worked as a door supervisor and this is where the Wolf Pack was born. A conversation over handprints on a Seat Leon car bonnet between two strangers, turned into a lifelong friendship with unforgettable memories of weekends away at Butlins, Pontins, Christmas Jumper nights and good times spent with friends.
Owen moved away from the Reading area and subsequently met Laura. They met through a dating app, in 2019, and after a vegan first date, Laura moved in and they never looked back. The past year has been a rollercoaster for them both, but they have managed to build a life and a home together. This year has had a bittersweet ending; the best Christmas gift ever with the birth of their first child, Luna Hope, and their engagement paired with sadness of finding out that the cancer has spread and the tumour has grown.
Why are we doing this?
At only 39 years old, Owen was diagnosed with bowel cancer in March 2020. He has already undergone several surgeries and treatments to get the cancer under control. The treatment he received was going well but unfortunately, in December 2020, he was told by the NHS that the treatment hadn’t worked; the tumour had grown, and the cancer has spread. As you can imagine this has been devastating news to his family and friends. Since being given the prognosis Owen has been researching treatment himself and has found a clinic, in London, that is undertaking a study and provides cancer treatments. Link can be found further down the page.
Owen, himself, has completed many fundraising events from Dragon Boat Racing, Red Bull Box Cart Racing and Skydiving. He also raised money for a friend who passed away from cancer. In addition, he has raised money for multiple charities including: Help for Heroes, The British Red Cross, and Blesma, a charity for limbless veterans, to name a few.
The strength of the pack is the wolf; the strength of the wolf is the pack.
Owen's last fundraising attempt was the 1215 mile walk from John O Groats to Land's End. He made it to day 10 and completed 282 miles before he had to give up from a knee injury.The Wolf Pack will be completing this from the 1st January to 1st April 2021. 8 of us will be completing walks throughout the week to meet this mammoth target.
Chris, Jason, Kirk, Dale, Andy and James will be completing The 3 Peaks Challenge and will be doing this on the weekend Of the 26th March. Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon will be climbed over a 24 hour period.
Chris will be completing a wing walk on the 22nd May.
How can you help?
All we ask if that you share Owen’s story and if you can please donate to help a son, a Veteran, a loyal friend, a fiancé and most importantly a new father to get the lifesaving treatment he deserves so that he can watch Luna Hope grow up.
