Hi Everyone,

This year my son Michael, some of my more foolhardy friends, and I will be running the Market Drayton 10k to raise money for Supershoes, a charity very close to our hearts. Before you say, “only 10k?” this is a major undertaking for some of us as we are now in our sixth decade on this earth and our usual hobbies do not tend towards the athletic.

On the 18th of September 2024 my youngest son Robin died. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour in January of the same year, so the nine months of 2024 we had together were often spent in a lot of appointments or on the way to or from them. These are long, hard days. They are often stressful, even frightening, but everyone we met did their best to help us and to help Robin get through it.

One very special day we received an amazing gift that changed every day after that: we received his pair of Supershoes. They had been designed after hearing from us what it was that Robin would love to have on his shoes – music (especially Elvis and Queen) and 'The Legend of Zelda' Nintendo game. Now he had these shoes, he would look forward to going out in them, wherever he was headed. He wore them to his appointments and loved showing them off. He was allowed to wear them to school, and he felt privileged to be able to share things he loved with everyone. He would always wear them – even when it got harder to tie the laces.

We want to be able to pay forward this positivity and enable other children with cancer to feel the strength and love Robin’s Supershoes brought him. So, we’re running this 10k to raise money. It costs £100 to produce and deliver each pair of Supershoes. This covers the shoes, paint and postage. All the Super Artists are volunteers and offer their time and talent for free. £100 is an easily-achieved sum to raise to brighten the day of a child with cancer, reminding them of who they are despite their massive challenges, painful and harsh treatment, and all the side effects that come with it.

Please give what you can.

Tom Allen