A woman from Hull, whose father’s brain tumour symptoms were once dismissed as a lie by his GP, is running the TCS London Marathon in aid of Brain Tumour Research.
Hollie Rhodes, 37, is training to compete the 26.2-mile event in April in memory of her dad, Stephen Blakeston, who died of the disease in 2011. Despite having no prior running experience, Hollie, who is Head of PE and Sport at Wyke Sixth Form College, said: “Running is definitely not my forte; my colleagues will tell you that and say I’m forced to do it in my work role.
“I’ve had to embrace this challenge wholeheartedly, spurred on by my husband and friends to keep going. It will be a massive achievement for me to complete in honour of my dad.”
Despite jumbling his sentences and not making sense when he spoke, in October 2010 Stephen’s GP dismissed his symptoms as stress-related – and even said he may have been faking them. But a CT scan revealed a glioblastoma brain tumour growing on Stephen’s left hemisphere.
He died less than a year later, in July 2011, after a blood clot found its way into his heart. His family remain without answers as to whether the brain tumour or subsequent treatment caused it. As a result of his daughter’s fundraising, Stephen’s story has recently been featured in The Sun and MailOnline.
Hollie said: “On the day, I’ll be thinking of my dad and how he never got to meet his grandchildren, who he would have adored, with Blake, my eldest, named after him. Remembering his struggles and how a cure could have kept him with us gives me the strength to keep going.
“Four or five hours of running is nothing compared to what Dad and so many others endure. I’ll remind myself to push through and do this for them.”
Hollie has already raised more than £2,900 – enough to fund a day of research at one of our Centres of Excellence – you can help her reach her £3,000 target via her JustGiving page.
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Published Tuesday 18ᵗʰ February 2025.