An 11-year-old is halfway through a month-long challenge inspired by his grandfather and a close family friend who both died from brain tumours.
Arthur Motley has set himself the challenge to run 60 miles in July to raise money for Brain Tumour Research. He has already raised more than £500 with plenty of time left to top up his total.
The impressive challenge is inspired by family friend, Linda Goode (pictured below), who died of a glioblastoma (GBM) six months ago.
Linda’s diagnosis came after she experienced problems with her speech. She had surgery, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. However the cancer was too aggressive and Linda died in January, leaving her husband Phil and three children, Ben, Jonah and Mia.
Arthur’s mum, Shelley, who was a nanny to Linda’s children and is godmother to one, said: “There was no hesitation when he said he wanted to do it for Brain Tumour Research. After each run, he comes back full of energy and marks down the distance on a chart which is stuck to our fridge, always with a smile on his face. I am a very proud mum.”
Arthur’s grandfather also died in 2013.
Shelley added: “My father-in-law, David, and Linda had different types of brain tumours. But David got to see his children grow up and even got to meet some of his grandchildren including Arthur. With Linda it was different. Although her cancer was very aggressive, she remained positive, and her light shone bright until the very end.”
“We must do more to help keep families together and find treatments that are kinder for brain tumour patients. That starts with making sure there is adequate funding to research the disease.”
Good luck to Arthur for the rest of his challenge! If you’d like to support him with a donation, please click here.
This GBM Awareness Week, we are raising awareness of this devastating type of tumour and how the research we are funding will help us get closer to a cure. Find out more here.
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