This is Ellie, my daughter Evelyn’s good friend, who will be one of her bridesmaids in August. On April 23rd Ellie will run her first marathon in London, raising awareness and funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK, because I have pancreatic cancer. I can tell you, it made me cry when Ellie told me she had a charity place.
I’m writing this short blog to give some context to Ellie’s challenge and ask you to support her by giving whatever you can to help her reach her target of £2500 https://2023tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/ellie-coward.
The last year has been challenging for my family; I’m also being treated for breast cancer and in June, my husband/Evelyn’s Dad Simon had a bone marrow stem cell transplant to treat acute myeloid leukaemia which was diagnosed in 2020. With support from wonderful friends and family, we’ve managed to stay strong and enjoy life by focussing on the positive. I am convinced that always having something exciting to look forward to has helped me stay quite well throughout surgery and chemotherapy. I’m on a short break from treatment at the moment and so excited to support Ellie in her mega-challenge.
Ellie is almost half way through her training. She’s already had to run many times each week through cold and wet conditions and those very long runs are still to come! It sounds like her training is going well and the big day will soon be in sight. Both Simon and I have run several marathons and are envious on one level as we know how fantastic she’ll feel to stand on the start line; excited and nervous but overwhelmingly proud at her discipline in managing 4 months of training. We are so proud of her too and look forward to cheering her on in April.
It’s always hard asking for donations. Pancreatic cancer rarely shows symptoms in early stages so improving early diagnosis will help survival rates massively; that research needs more funds so please help Ellie in her marathon goal and share our stories https://2023tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/ellie-coward. Thank you so much.