A family is aiming to complete 100 miles in a month to raise money for Brain Tumour Research in honour of their beloved grandad who died from the disease.
Danielle Keay and her children, seven-year-old Meadow, Noah, nine, and Maisie, six, are clocking up the miles to reach their target by the end of August by walking, swimming, cycling and even kayaking. They’re also being joined for some of their miles by cousin Mabel who is just two. So far, they’ve raised nearly £200 from their summer holiday challenge.
Their support of Brain Tumour Research is in memory of Danielle’s dad, David, who passed away in February, aged 63. He left his wife Lorraine, daughters Danielle and Shannon, their partners Ashley and Tom, and grandchildren, Meadow, Noah, Maisie and Mabel.
Family man David
David was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in April 2024. The only symptom he experienced was a sudden loss of speech one morning.
Danielle said: “It was Dad’s ritual to wake up, get ready for work and make Mum a coffee before he left. But one morning he went to tell her he was leaving and couldn’t get the words out. We called an ambulance, thinking he’d had a stroke. When he got to hospital, Mum called me and I just said, ‘he’s got a brain tumour’. I can’t explain it, I just had this feeling. That was at 6am, and by 11am he had the diagnosis.”
Despite his devastating diagnosis, Danielle says David remained “the happiest person in the world”. She added: “I never knew Dad to stress about anything in life. His attitude was that we can’t change it, so we just have to move on. He even used to say: ‘how can I hate a situation that’s allowed me to spend nearly every day with my wife, daughters and grandkids?’ That’s just who Dad was.”
David was a beloved grandad to Meadow, Noah, Maisie and Mabel
David had a craniotomy and surgeons managed to completely resect the tumour. After surgery came six weeks of radiotherapy, followed by a year of chemotherapy.
“It was painful and relentless, but Dad kept going. Not because it was easy, but because he wanted more time. More time with his family, more moments and more memories. For a while, we allowed ourselves to hope. We celebrated small wins. We learned to treasure ordinary days in extraordinary ways,” said Danielle.
“But then. in January 2026, we learnt that shoulder pain Dad has been experiencing was in fact cancer that had spread to his spine. Seven days later, we lost him.”
Inspired by David’s positive outlook and determination to enjoy the small things, his family is taking on the challenge to help bring hope to families affected in the future.
The family is aiming to complete 100 miles in August
Danielle, who also completed our 10,000 Steps a Day in February challenge earlier this year, added: “We hope the money will help find a cure, everybody affected by this disease wishes for that. But even just to support better understanding of brain tumours and give a boost to the funding to find different treatments means a lot. There is so little money invested in research and that’s so sad. We need the support because without it, we won’t change the shocking statistics you read about brain tumours.”
You can support the family’s fundraising by donating to their JustGiving page.
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