I will be running the London Marathon in 2026 whilst playing darts every mile! 🎯

It’s been an interesting couple of years to say the least! Just over two years ago now, my wife made me go get a new mole checked at the Doctors, which I wasn’t too worried about. It turned out to be confirmed as Melanoma and quite aggressive too. After having the mole removed they soon realised it was already too deep in the skin leading to removal of large part of my shin and having a skin graft done.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end, as the cancer had already spread to the lymph node glands in my groin. This led to another operation, resulting in two weeks straight in hospital with a pretty serious infection. Roll forward a few more weeks and I have the results of another scan, which confirmed our worst fears! The cancer had spread again, slightly higher up and closer to the stomach. I returned for repeat surgery to remove effected lymph nodes and luckily made it home a bit sooner this time around!

During this period I had started my immunotherapy treatment, but this had to be paused so I could heal properly post surgery.

Two years on and I have now recently finished my treatment and had a couple of clear scan results which means I’m officially in remission!

Why darts you ask? I picked up set of darts during my recovery from the initial skin graft to keep myself busy whilst I was unable to work. Darts has been brilliant for my mental health and helped me through this period, distracting me from all the bad thoughts which could and sometimes did pop into my head. Therefore, I feel it’s only right to include darts within my challenge, as the sport played such a part in my journey and recovery. It’s helped me no end and introduced me to a new world where I have met some great people. The community both in the local pub and online is great and everyone’s very much on the same page.

I’ve decided to make this marathon slightly more interesting and run it with a dart board! Stopping at every mile and throwing three darts - accumulating the total score to help raise some extra money for Macmillian.

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