Running and raising for my dad 🤍

We lost my wonderful dad John White in July 2021. Dad was diagnosed with stage 4 Lung Cancer in March 2021, which we then discovered had spread to his brain after a massive brain seizure on Saturday 24th April. The following weeks were so incredibly tough, and poor dad was so tremendously brave and strong, despite such debilitating complications.

Whitey/Johnny White/ Our dad 🤍

Dad was such a fun, kind, caring, funny, wise and gentle man. He was a real character, and made friends where ever he went. Our family home was filled with so much love and laughter, and that was from dad, and mum, who built such a tight & beautiful family unit together. He was so very loved by family and friends. Such a monumental loss for us all.

The run… and the why 🤍

I’ve always wanted to run the London Marathon, but I’m not quite as fit as I used to be, so I know it’s going to be hard. I will do this for dad. I want to keep his memory alive and I want to raise money for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, to help them get earlier diagnosis for those suffering with lung cancer. We lose too many to cancer. We lose too many men to cancer. Earlier diagnosis saves lives. As well as my beautiful beloved dad, I’ve lost my grandad Bill and step grandad Keith to this crushing disease, and, just recently, we lost our wonderful father in law Bill to prostate cancer. All such loved men,  all taken too soon. I’m running and raising money for dad, and for all of them x

Know the signs - one symptom? see a GP

https://roycastle.org/campaigns/spot-the-difference/spot-the-symptoms/

A poem I wrote for dad:

Impossible to describe, the pain we feel inside

To lose you dad

Has caused part of all of us to die

So cruelly you were taken

So fast, and viscously

If fairness were at play, you’d be here

Still here, with me 

Our hearts are torn in two

A family never the same

To lose a dad like you 

Leaves a grief I can’t explain

Such a huge personality

With so much fun and life

You made your mark on all you knew

your wit, your warmth, your light 

A husband first and foremost 

Then fa