There are many ways to fundraise for CancerCare, from having a bake sale to climbing a mountain. One of the things we are very appreciative of is when people choose to fundraise for us in memory of lost loved ones. Iain and Andy did just this last October when they both took on their own Marathon challenges.

Iain decided to run the Yorkshire Marathon last year in memory of his Dad, Alec, who passed away from cancer. Alec and his wife had accessed CancerCare’s services, where the allotment project, Thrive, was particularly important to Alec. There has now been a bench donated in the allotment in his memory.

After training for 16 weeks, Iain ran the Marathon in a time of 4 hours and 56 minutes. He used JustGiving to create his fundraiser, where he was able to update supporters with is training, which he really feels helped to gain more donations without always having to directly ask people as they were more invested in is journey. He aimed to raise £1,000 but ended up raising over £2,200 including GiftAid, which is absolutely brilliant. We were able to let Iain know how many people this would help to support with counselling sessions just as his parents had received our support for us.

“It was very emotional to do the Marathon, it gives you extra drive and motivation. As I had just become a new Dad myself it really put into perspective the relationship I had with my Dad. I had tears in my eyes by the end, 26 miles is a long way to run thinking about someone special.

I wanted to raise money for CancerCare as my Dad asked us to keep supporting the charities that had helped him. CancerCare are a smaller charity, and during Dad’s treatment it was clear just how much of the local community they had helped. ” said Iain.

Andy decided to take on the Morecambe Marathon, alongside a friend, in memory of his Mum, Jenny, who had always been very supportive of CancerCare as her local charity.

He found raising money as a tribute to his Mum the perfect motivation to complete the marathon. Even after being ill with COVID, the thought of raising the money in memory of his Mum helped to keep him going and took on even more significance to him.

People were very generous with Andy raising over £3,000 including GiftAid, which is amazing.

Andy said “It was a joy to fundraise for CancerCare. I was absolutely delighted with the amount of money raised. It was way above and beyond expectations. The communication from all the team was amazing and really made the difference. This is a major benefit of fundraising for a local charity.”

Every fundraiser and donation to us is much appreciated but having someone fundraise in memory of a lost loved one means so much to us as a charity. If you would like to fundraise in memory of someone, get in touch with our fundraising team today at fundraising@cancercare.org.uk.