“I wanted to do something to show our appreciation for those nurses"

A shock diagnosis

Dad was a hard-working family guy – a real down to earth person. He owned a few butcher shops when he was younger and he always took care of me and my two sisters. He loved golf too, so as the sporty one in the family we always had that connection.

His death was a real shock. He'd been unwell for a little while, but we didn't realise how bad things were until around February time last year. He'd been to see doctors but he kept just getting sent home with pain medication. He had various scans and then eventually they found something on one of his adrenal glands which turned out to be cancerous. Before you know it, we were being told that it was stage 4 lung cancer and it had spread. It was all so brutally quick.

It was in the last two weeks of his life that we really appreciated the support from Marie Curie. It was so difficult seeing Dad in pain but the Rapid Response team always came quickly whenever we needed them. All the nurses were great, they were so good with Dad. Nothing was too much trouble. You could tell that it was more than just a job for them, they really cared about Dad.

Saying goodbye

There's no easy time for someone you love to die. But lockdowns made everything harder. I wasn't going to work or leaving the house except to see Dad. I didn't know how much time I had left with him. We wanted to spend time all together as a family in Dad's last days but that wasn't possible – we had to take it in turns to visit.

Just three months after his diagnosis, Dad passed away. We were hoping that we would be out of lockdown before he passed and that restrictions would be lifted, but obviously that didn't happen. The funeral was held in the first week of June with a dozen people, which felt wrong because Dad was such a popular guy – he'd made loads of mates at golf over the years.

A tribute to his life

The Marie Curie Nurses made such a difference to us all, so I knew I wanted to do something to show our appreciation and give back to them. I looked on their website and saw the link to the Brighton Marathon and thought that would be perfect for me.

Over the last couple of months, we've spent a lot of time looking over all the old photos as a family. There are so many of me and Dad in our sporting gear. That's given me the motivation to get my trainers on and get out there.

When I spoke to Lauren at Marie Curie, I found out that the money I've raised is the equivalent of 16 night shifts or 140 hours, which puts all the hard work and training into perspective. It's really nice to know what a difference that could make to another family like us.

Dad would be proud. He probably wouldn't have said it out loud, but I know he would be telling his mates all about it. The marathon feels like the perfect way to remember him.

Join Team Marie Curie for the Brighton Marathon and help us provide vital support for families facing terminal illness.