Hi! Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

2018 was an unprecedented year for me and my family. 2 men who bear so much significance to us all sadly passed away and have left a huge void in our lives. 

One Grandad passed away suddenly from Renal (kidney) failure back in early May. At the age of 87 he was an incredibly proud and independent man.. living on his own, able to cook and move around unaided. His passing came as a massive shock to me and my family as other than recently finding out he had cancer during some routine CT/MRI scans he had shown no signs of any health problems.

My other Grandad, although a younger man was in a less fortunate situation despite still living in his home, required a full time carer. Having spent many years living with my Grandma, his health started to deteriorate following her passing a few years back and towards the end of August he also left us.   

In both their memories I have been setting myself challenges to promote my sponsorship. In 2018 I completed the Leeds Castle Triathlon on the 23rd June, a very hilly and windy Canterbury Half Marathon on the 27th August and also a 12,000ft Skydive on the 8th September. Following on from this Pilgrims Hospice have offered me a charity place to run the 2019 London Marathon on behalf of them, which will be my final and toughest challenge. In preparation for this event I have entered organised running events in addition to a gruelling 16 week training plan. I ran the Canterbury 10 on 27th January and the Lydd 20 on the 10th March and in total have racked up over 450miles since the beginning of 2019. 

I have created my fundraising page to raise awareness and much needed funds for The Pilgrims hospice who offer care and support for people with incurable illnesses to live in as much comfort and peace in every moment. The Pilgrims Hospice are an independent charity that provides it's services free of charge. To do this they heavily rely on the support and generosity of the local community in East Kent. It currently costs £14m a year to run their full range of services. 

I got to experience first hand what an incredible job all the nurses and staff do to make their patients and families feel as comfortable as possible. I found everyone to be so attentive, personable, caring and considerate during a very emotional and exhausting time for my family. I cannot thank them enough for making my Grandads last few days as comfortable and pain free as they could.  

Thanks for taking the time read my page. I hope it inspires you to make a valuable contribution towards my cause.

Gav.    


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