My sister Sam and I have chosen to take part in the Great North Run to raise money and support Colostomy UK. The reason we have chosen to support this Charity is because we sadly lost our father to bowel cancer in August 2019 at the age of 62, after a short eight month illness.

After his diagnosis, he underwent an operation to remove the tumour but due to an unexpected complication after the first operation, he required further surgery which resulted in him having a colostomy bag fitted.

The colostomy bag meant some adjustment in terms of managing it and also his body which was already
weak after two operations. This unfortunately didn’t help with the recovery but he was allowed home after about 6 weeks and the stoma nurse was happy that he could change his stoma bag on his own.

A couple of months after the operation, he started Chemotherapy which seemed to make him feel worse
and weaker every day and for the months that followed, he was pretty much confined to the house with repeated hospital stays. After three sessions of chemo the doctors decided to suspend the chemo as he seemed to be getting worse. After a couple of more hospital admissions, we were finally told that the cancer had spread and we lost him about a week later on the 8th of August 2019 whilst he was at home.

Dad was an active person who always tried to live a healthy lifestyle and was a keen runner and even
completed the Great North Run himself several times. Just before his passing we told him that we were going to complete our first Great North Run to raise money and awareness for a charity that is associated with what he was going through, which he responded 'He would be very proud of us'. 

He was also a devoted Grandad to his his two Granddaughters who were aged 4 and 1 when we lost him. He would always priortise the girls over anything and anyone and just loved spending time and playing with them. Now 6 and 3 both girls will be running the Junior Great Run on his his behalf as well.

At Dad's funeral we chose not to receive donations, and instead kindly asked those who attended to donate to our chosen charity for the Great North Run, as Dad always believed in working hard for what you earn.

We have chosen Colostomy UK as they are a smaller charity and hope with our donations we can help support people living with Stoma Bags/ raise general awareness of Stoma's as we soon came to realise that it is something which a lot of people are unfamiliar with. We would be so very grateful for any donations to help us reach our goal. 

We are looking foward to our first Great North Run and know that Dad will be keeping an eye on us and cheering us on as a proud Husband, Dad and Grandad.

Colostomy UK is a national charity that offers support and advice to people with stomas and to their families, carers and friends. Colostomy UK also campaigns and acts as advocates for ostomates on the many issues they face going about their daily lives. We want hidden conditions to be understood and accepted by all. Our vision is of communities in which everyone is empowered to reach their potential.