Dave Barker

Dave's Windsor Half Marathon 2015 page

Fundraising for Young Lives vs Cancer
£690
raised of £1,000 target
Donations cannot currently be made to this page
Event: Windsor Half Marathon 2015, on 27 September 2015
In memory of Peter Young
Young Lives vs Cancer

Verified by JustGiving

RCN 1107328 and SC039857
We help families find the strength to face everything cancer throws at them

Story

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. I know that for most money is tight so anything you can spare is most appreciated.

For those that know me well enough and for those that knew Peter you will understand the challenge i have after not running for 12 years. Pete was an inspiration to many  and a true example of how people view a disadvantage to make it positive.

He may have been blind.. but he had guts like many people never experience. In his own words "how can you say you are disabled when you can do things that others cant, at a level they cant, in places many will never visit.. i may not be able to see but my hearing and every other sense is better than the normal man in the street"  Well ok.. for those that knew Pete.. you will understand that this is a public site and i have had to clean up the languge just a tad:)

Pete lost a fight to cancer 12 July 2002 at 9 pm. He stopped breathing then, but still fought for another 15 mintes before his heart gave up, and the angels gained a most caring and fantastic member

 Like  many other retinablastoma victims he  developed it in his childhood ( he was 2 and the option was to either blind him or lose him) I guess it laid dormant after wainti g to strike elsewhere. He got cancer in his calf in 2001, which was removed but had already spread through his system to his lung and brain. His last words to me were spoken a day before he died, "  "dont worry boy "  he said, "i'll kick this bastard  and we'll do the windsor next year". That night he lapsed into a coma.

When he lost his fight  my motivation and part of me died too. But time is a healer and pure coincidence, a picture and a book reignited the ember that was in me...

and i will beat the windsor half for both our sakes.

The profile picture is from the 1995 Windor Half Marathon. Pete ( in white was totally blind. An international blind Nordic Skiier only beaten by norwegians who had once been sighted. ) Pete lost his fight with cancer in 2002 aged 46. This year will be 20 years since this photo was taken and i will be running the same race. This time i will be physically running alone, although I suspect Pete will be looking down with a pint in his hand telling me to relax and drop my shoulders :)

Please help me raise money so that we can wipe retina blastoma and other childs cancer from the face of this earth, and hopefully do just a little something to stop other parents facing the descision, blind your child and maybe he will survive, or do nothing and just wait for time to run out.

My thanks and gratitude also go to my family for their support despite the fact the think i am mental, and to Larry at www.ekulibrium.com for his guidence and help getting me in shape( ish) for this.

I hope you will support me in my quest.

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Thanks for reading


Dave

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About the charity

Young Lives vs Cancer

Verified by JustGiving

RCN 1107328 and SC039857
At Young Lives vs Cancer, we help families find the strength to face whatever cancer throws at them. But every day 12 more children and young people hear the devastating news they have cancer. We’ll face it all together – but we can’t do it without you. Visit www.younglivesvscancer.org.uk

Donation summary

Total raised
£690.00
+ £130.00 Gift Aid
Online donations
£690.00
Offline donations
£0.00

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