United by loss from brain cancer, a trio of friends took on the Manchester Marathon on Sunday, April 27, to help bring hope to families impacted by the devastating disease.
In February 2021, Pinner resident Thomas Beresford-Smart lost his 18-year-old brother Joshua to diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG).
Just months before Joshua’s diagnosis, their cousin, Imogen Keites, lost her grandfather to the same disease.
Her boyfriend, Nathan White, also sadly lost his sister Debbie to brain cancer in the same year.
Despite having never completed a marathon, Thomas wanted to raise awareness of brain cancer – which is the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under the age of 40.
He said: “The normal survival prognosis for DIPG is painfully short – just nine to 12 months.
“Josh underwent the standard treatment of care for aggressive brain tumours – radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In the UK, the treatment hasn’t changed [since 1962], and it is particularly gruelling for patients.
“Mum and dad managed to find him a clinical trial in the USA, and he managed to live a pretty normal life and continue going to school.
“We all believe he wouldn’t have lived for three-and-a-half years after his diagnosis without it.”
The trio managed to complete the race and raise more than £4,000 for Brain Tumour Research (BTR).
Carol Robertson, national events manager for BTR, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Thomas, Imogen and Nathan for their support to bring hope for future brain tumour patients.”
To sponsor Thomas, visit www.shorturl.at/RwN8R and to sponsor Imogen, visit www.shorturl.at/1DbxC
Photo: Brain Tumour Research
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