With great pain and heartache I share that my Dear Mother, Daisy Sahota passed away peacefully at home on the 27th of April 2021.

She battled as hard as she could, but her fight sadly came to an end. In October last year, Mum suffered a seizure and a fit from which it later transpired she had two small tumours in her brain which caused this seizure. 

The tumours were removed, and we thought that was the end of it. A couple of weeks later, at a routine check-up, we were shocked to learn that she did, in fact, have stage 4 brain cancer which was terminal. 

Mum, being Mum, wanted to fight the cancer and went through almost 28 rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy; sadly the treatment didn’t work, and the tumours got more prominent and swelling appeared in her brain.  

In true Daisy style, she carried on fighting as long as she could, and her last month was the worse where she couldn’t talk anymore, walk or even eat. I can only imagine what she was thinking, laying there not being able to go at her usual 100mph. Small tears would slowly flow from the corner of her eyes, which was enough for me to know she was hurting. 

In light of Mum’s passing, I have decided to do something positive and raise some money for “Unique Home Jalandhar”, which is a charity based in India that looks after unwanted, unclaimed or orphan children whom society shuns.

Baby girls are found by roadsides, dumped by running water, or even left during the night in baby cradles outside the home.

Unique Home aims “Moral, Social, Cultural and Economic uplift of orphan children without any distinction of Caste, Creed and Religion”. To raise these children as enlightened and self-respecting citizens and restore them their due place in society is a tough task that requires a mass social effort. 

In honour of my Mother Daisy, myself and a good friend will be running a total of 250km each in the month of May and are inviting people to join us in this effort. You don’t have to run the entire 250km even if you get out for a few Km’s, please share your progress and hashtag us at #runningfordaisy on my Instagram page @jameshsahota 

Instead of sending flowers why not make a donation to this great cause instead. I know this challenge will test me both physically and mentally especially as I have been prone to injury but I really wanted to prove to myself that even in times of hardship and pain great things can be achieved. 

Thank you in advance to everyone who supports this cause, my mother was truly a unique character and her passing has left me lonely with a massive void that I’m not quite sure how I will fill. "This one’s for you Mum, keep smiling and guiding me like you always did!"