Hello my name is Karl I am married to Marie for the last 9 years  , I have three beautiful children , Brooke who is 16 (not in the picture), Grace who is 7 and Addison who is 4 , I am a British Army Veteran after 22 years service in 1 Royal Anglian and the Small Arms School Corp. when leaving the Army myself and Marie became the  Owners of Islwyn Gymnastics Club and moved into a 11000 sq ft unit Cwmfelinfach which now is the home for over 300 gymnasts !

In June 2020 whilst in lockdown my wife found a lump in her left breast after many tests she was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast Cancer which was metastasis meaning it had spread to her lymph nodes and her liver 

Since then she has endured 6 gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and many hospital admissions , spent the best part of the last 21 weeks suffering in pain and emotionally drained 

During that time the Velindre staff and Center has been with us the entire way. No matter what time what day they have reassured myself and Marie that she will be ok.

 On December the 11th Marie was rushed to hospital after becoming unconscious and puking up lots of blood , I managed to keep her semi conscious whilst I waited for the ambulance. When I put Marie on the ambulance I did not know if she was going to make it and I was asked my do not resuscitate policy. Over the next 48 hours Marie nearly died 3 times from her internal bleeding caused by an ulcer and chemotherapy. I was not allowed in the ambulance or able to visit her whilst she went through this harrowing ordeal due to COVID restrictions.

I immediately called the Velindre and they were totally amazing and helped me through the 5 hours I had to wait to here from the hospital to see if Marie was still alive. Their expert advice and reassuring kept me going in those dark hours.

Cancer is a horrible uncaring disease and the staff and the Velindre tackle it head on whilst maintaining professionalism and a smile. They truly are hero’s and I would like to help the Center and them by running 1000 miles to say thank you to them 

Some of you may know me and I don’t really like to run and to me 1000 miles is a looooong way ! But I hope to do it in the shortest possible time around Marie’s anti cancer drug infusions and her surgery.

If you can donate even 50p it will help me to my target of £5000

Thank you to each and everyone of you and thank you to the super heroes at the Velindre 

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