Back in 2013 our family went through one of the toughest times of our lives when my wife Vickie, was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Vickie spent weeks going backwards and forwards to the doctors with severe headaches where she kept being told it was vertigo, I was not convinced by this and thankfully persuaded her to have her eyes test, where we were told there was an abnormality behind her eye and was sent straight to our local hospital. Two days later she was back for a CT scan where it was confirmed that she had a brain tumour. My wife was just 30 years old at the time and our three children were just 11, 7 and 5, as you can imagine our world was torn apart and we really didn't know what the outcome was going to be and weather or not Vickie, was going to be with us in the future.

Vickie, was admitted to Preston Royal hospital where she underwent ten hours of brain surgery to remove the tumour which thankfully turned out to be benign, however she lost the ability to swallow and spent the next six weeks being tube fed recovering, having intense physiotherapy and learning to swallow & talk again.

After a long road Vickie, made a good recovery but with two little reminders that she now lives with daily glasses for double vision and hearing aids , but she is with us and seeing our children grow up.

I have been given the opportunity to run in the Berlin Marathon in September 2025 on behalf of the Brain Tumour Charity to raise money that will help to go towards research and to hopefully one day find a cure.

As many of you know I have ran several marathons before but never for charity, therefore I now feel this is the right time to give something back to hopefully help other families going through a similar ordeal, we never know what's around the corner.

We as a family were very lucky others are not.

The Brain Tumour Charity is the world's leading brain tumour charity and the largest dedicated funder of research into brain tumours globally. Committed to saving and improving lives, we're moving further, faster to help every single person affected by a brain tumour.

We're set on finding new treatments, offering the highest level of support and driving urgent change. And we're doing it right now. Because we understand that when you, or someone you love, is diagnosed with a brain tumour a cure really can't wait.