Around 7 years ago, my grandad (Tony) was diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately, by 2019 the cancer had become more aggressive and my grandad was no longer able to cope on his own. It was agreed that grandad should move to St Lukes hospice.

Shortly after arriving, the national lockdown hit, fortunately for my grandad he was at St Lukes. They quickly implemented measures that meant that our family could continue to visit grandad at what would have been an extremely lonely time had he not have been at St Lukes.

The staff were all brilliant with him (and us), they treated him like family, cared for him, chatted to him, joked with him and made life as comfortable as they could. 

By June 2020 my first son, Bodhi, was born. St Luke's made special arrangements to ensure that the two could meet, these visits were something we will always cherish and something grandad looked forward to.

Shortly after Bodhi’s visit (in August 2020), it appeared Tony didn't have long left, as a family we were able to visit him and say goodbye. Again, this was only made possible due to the measures that St Luke's had put in place. 

Sadly, grandad died by my mums side in August 2020. All those who met Tony would agree what a brilliant, intelligent, caring and funny man he was. I will forever be grateful to St Luke's for those additional moments me, my family, and my son, could spend with him. 

St Luke's help families like ours every day and they need ongoing support to be able to continue to do this. To try and help in a small way, I’ll be fundraising in 2024. Having started running over lockdown, I ran a half marathon (for St Luke’s) in 2019 and with your help raised over £800.

To try and encourage everyone to part with their hard earned cash in these tough times I’ve booked myself in for a 100km ultra marathon round the Peak District. The run is self funded so all donations will go to St Luke’s.

If people could sponsor me, even a small amount, it would be much appreciated and would definitely help keep me going on the long long long run 🏃‍♂️