British actor Connor Swindells to honour his late mum’s bowel cancer battle with half marathon

British actor Connor Swindells, 27, is running the Brighton Half Marathon in honour of his late Mum. 

In 2004, age seven, Connor tragically lost his Mum, Phoebe Swindells, to bowel cancer.  

Almost 20 years after her passing, Connor, now a patron of Bowel Cancer UK is fundraising on JustGiving in her memory.  

He said: “I’m running the Brighton Half Marathon in honour of my mum who lost her battle with bowel cancer and for everyone who has fought or is currently fighting this disease.  

“All of the money I am able to raise will go towards the vital research of bowel cancer.” 

In the UK, bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer with more than 16,800 people dying from the illness every year.   

Connor will be joining an expected 10,000 runners in the Brighton Half Marathon on February 25, 2024. 

This will be JustGiving’s third year as the official fundraising platform for the Brighton Half Marathon, with last year’s run raising over one million pounds for over 150 charities. 

According to JustGiving, one in five individuals running the 13-mile race are doing it for charity. 

Pascale Harvie, President and General Manager of JustGiving said: “I was so sorry to hear that Connor lost his mum at such a young age. By bravely sharing his own personal story he has raised an amazing amount of money for bowel cancer and generated awareness of the need for research across a mass audience.   

“Congratulations Connor for what you have achieved so far, from everyone at JustGiving we wish you the best of luck in reaching your fundraising goal.” 

Kerry Thomas, Head of Public Fundraising for Bowel Cancer UK said: “We are so incredibly proud of Connor, our wonderful patron, for choosing to fundraise for Bowel Cancer UK when he runs the Brighton Half marathon in memory of his mum. Sadly, someone dies from the disease every half an hour in the UK which means that that in average time it takes to run a half marathon four families will lose a loved one.  

“It’s only by people like Connor raising money for the charity that we can continue to raise awareness of the disease and its symptoms, encourage people to speak to their GP if they’re worried, and help stop people dying of this curable disease. We hope he crosses the finish line knowing the difference his valuable support will make.”   

To donate to Connor’s JustGiving page click here. 

NOTES TO EDITOR

For further information contact  press@justgiving.com

About JustGiving
JustGiving is the world’s most trusted platform for online giving. We help people raise money for the charities and people they care about the most. In 2000, JustGiving.com began with one simple goal – to enable charities to receive donations online from anywhere in the world. Fast forward 22 years and over £5 billion has been raised for good causes in almost every single country in the world.

JustGiving became part of Blackbaud, the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good in 2017.

To note – JustGiving does not charge a fee on donations but instead operates a voluntary contribution model, meaning people donating can choose to leave a ‘tip’ if they wish. The only non-optional fee is a 1.9% + 20p to cover card payment charges.