VIDEO: Marathon runs are inspired by mum and friend
A father-of-two was inspired by his mother and best friend to run four marathons in four weeks for a cancer charity.
Darron Jelly, 38, from Three Bridges, will run the Paris, London, Brighton and Manchester marathons on each Sunday in April to raise money for Children with Cancer UK.
His mother Linda Jelly, from Worth, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer about three years ago. She has since been given the all clear.
Darron said: “It was a big shock because it started with a bad cough. She was going back and forth to the doctors for six to eight months, then suddenly they said ‘we think it might be cancer’.”
Darron said his mother was taken to hospital to receive an endoscopy - a procedure where the organs are looked at using a small camera on a long tube.
During the procedure the surgeons decided the cancerous tissue had to be removed immediately.
He said: “They had her in theatre for eight hours and took the whole lot out there and then.
“It didn’t hit me when I found out. After we saw her in the hospital not looking well, it hit us.”
Darron’s best friend Dylan Maloney, from Three Bridges, was diagnosed with throat cancer last February.
Darron said: “He’s my best friend from when I was three.
“He found a little lump on his neck and he didn’t think it was anything.
“My missus kept going on to him to go to the doctors. Then when he did he found out it was cancer.”
Dylan has also been given the all clear.
The two scares pushed Darron to raise money for vulnerable people with cancer.
Darron said: “I thought about doing it for Cancer Research UK but I thought kids don’t really have a chance so I want to help them.
“Mum’s over the moon I’m doing this. She really wanted to watch when I did the Brighton marathon last year but she was too ill so she’s going to come with me on all of them this year.”
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Weather for West Sussex
Wednesday 22 May 2013
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