Many moons ago, the Hewitts cycled from John O’ Groats to Land’s End, raising £3,403 for Brain Tumour Research. A fantastic achievement which gave Ashley, Emily and Sophie more than enough wonderful memories and funny anecdotes to last a lifetime (or perhaps only four years). 

This year, Ashley (30) and Sophie (24) will once again be raising money for Brain Tumour Research in memory of their much-loved and much-missed mum, Stephanie. This time, however, rather than putting on their helmets and heavily-padded shorts, the pair will be pounding the pavements - taking on the London Landmarks Half Marathon 2020. Ashley and Sophie both hope that the money being generated from this run can contribute in some small way to finding a cure to this horrible disease. 

Neither Ashley nor Sophie have ever run the half marathon distance before, so it’s going to be a real personal challenge to get over the finish line (in what may or may not be a respectable time)! 

Anything  you can spare for a charity that takes the lives of so many people, especially those under 40, will be much appreciated and warmly received.

If you could share the page with your friends and families, all of the Hewitts would very much appreciate it  

With love, care and support,

Ashley, Emily, Sophie and Melanie x

Where it all started:

Just before Christmas 2013, our mother, who was studying for a Social Work degree at Anglia Ruskin University at the time, was diagnosed with a brain tumour and underwent surgery. The aim of the operation was clear: to remove as much of the growth as humanly possible and to test the sample. Following on from the surgery, we were told that the brain tumour was benign. Unfortunately, the joy of this news was short lived. Indeed, following a scan three months later, the hospital informed us that the tumour had returned and was growing at an alarming rate, especially given the result of the earlier biopsy. 



In late November 2014, our mum, Stephanie Hewitt, went in for more surgery. This time, however, for a biopsy to see what type (grade) the tumour had mutated into, and not for partial or full removal of the tumour. As you can imagine, this was a stressful experience for everyone concerned – not least our beautiful mother. The result of the biopsy was, although not completely unexpected, still deeply saddening and knocked our mum’s confidence greatly. The result meant that she required radiotherapy and would lose much of her hair – something that, to all those who know our mum well, would knock her confidence even further. Needless to say, Christmas 2014 was a very difficult time for the whole family. 



Things started looking up, and although none of us were experts, the radiotherapy appeared to improve our mother’s overall health. This outwardly improvement seemed to have a positive impact on our mother’s confidence and gave us hope that the mother we all know and love was returning to us.

In April 2015 our mother was awaiting her next scan results. We were all praying to every God and deity willing and available to listen that the results of the scan would prove us right! Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case and instead we were presented with a prognosis of “weeks to months”, news that for all involved was deeply upsetting.

On Saturday October 3rd 2015, the Hewitts had to announce with extremely heavy hearts, that our beautiful mother sadly passed away from this disease at just 49 years of age. As a family, we could not be more proud of the woman who made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that her children’s lives were constantly filled with care, happiness and, most importantly, love.