In February this year my nephew Gareth Horton died, he too had contracted a cancer which couldn't be cured.
Gareth's mom, Elaine, had heard about Paul Ackrill and got in touch with Paul's mother shortly after Gareth passed away. This is how I came to hear about the Paul Ackrill charity.
I readily agreed with Elaine that I would run a marathon in aid of this charity if I could. It was such a joy to get a ballot place in the London Marathon and to be able to fulfill this promise so quickly.
Just the matter of some marathon training to do now!
Sunday, 30 December 2007
Paul Ackrill
I just got off the phone from a conversation with Gill Ackrill, Paul Ackrill was her son who contracted bone cancer and died in July 2001.
Gill and her husband Barry created a charitable trust to help others who find themselves in the position they were in. This is what Gill has to say about their charity:
Paul's charity is going from strength to strength. Since it was started in January 2001 we have given over £21,000 out in funding to young people under the age of 30 diagnosed with cancer. In addition to providing funding for private scans and treatment that these young people have to wait months for under the NHS, we are also funding patients to relieve financial stress. This is granted not for luxuries but to help with travelling costs, phone bills and normal household bills that build up when a young person is in hospital for any length of time. In most cases the patient or the parents of the patient have to give up jobs, which results in loss of earnings. In such circumstances the charity gives out up to £500 per patient, per year. Patients have to be referred to the charity by a social worker or health worker.
I've agreed with Gill that I will run the 2008 marathon to raise money for their charity.
I'll tell you more about how I came to hear about Paul Ackrill in my next post.
Gill and her husband Barry created a charitable trust to help others who find themselves in the position they were in. This is what Gill has to say about their charity:
Paul's charity is going from strength to strength. Since it was started in January 2001 we have given over £21,000 out in funding to young people under the age of 30 diagnosed with cancer. In addition to providing funding for private scans and treatment that these young people have to wait months for under the NHS, we are also funding patients to relieve financial stress. This is granted not for luxuries but to help with travelling costs, phone bills and normal household bills that build up when a young person is in hospital for any length of time. In most cases the patient or the parents of the patient have to give up jobs, which results in loss of earnings. In such circumstances the charity gives out up to £500 per patient, per year. Patients have to be referred to the charity by a social worker or health worker.
I've agreed with Gill that I will run the 2008 marathon to raise money for their charity.
I'll tell you more about how I came to hear about Paul Ackrill in my next post.
Yeah!! Marathon!
And then in late November I could've told you all about seeing a thin, polythene covered envelope lying ominously on my kitchen table..
You see I always bequeath my entry fee and in return, should I fail to get in, there's always a gift from the London Marathon organisers... This gift always comes in a much larger package... So a thin polythene package can only mean one thing...
I forgot to bequeath me fee...?
NO!! I got in again!! The odds against getting in two years on the trot must be quite high, I wish I'd put a bet on now with the bookies!
If I had done this is in November I would then have gone off to think about which charity to represent...
You see I always bequeath my entry fee and in return, should I fail to get in, there's always a gift from the London Marathon organisers... This gift always comes in a much larger package... So a thin polythene package can only mean one thing...
I forgot to bequeath me fee...?
NO!! I got in again!! The odds against getting in two years on the trot must be quite high, I wish I'd put a bet on now with the bookies!
If I had done this is in November I would then have gone off to think about which charity to represent...
Woohoo Marathon!
If I'd posted that note in August I might have shared some of the suspense involved in waiting to see whether you get selected... or not...
New Marathon
About August time in 2007 I should've posted a note to say that I'd applied for a ballot place in the 2008 London Marathon....
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