A dad from Sheffield will go the distance to say thank you to the charities that supported his daughter during her brain tumour treatment.
Last Father’s Day, Bradley and his family faced news no parent would want to hear when finding out that his daughter had developed an ‘orange-sized’ tumour, during a check-up after she had taken a fall.
The family were given the best care possible at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, one of three charities Bradley will run for, where within four days she received emergency brain surgery. The next few weeks were spent undergoing treatment with the ‘best’ medical team to support them.
Bradley said: “The support that the Children’s Hospital has given us has been incredible.
“Make sure we have anything we need, we’re very looked after.”
At three years old, his daughter faced a ‘potentially life changing and life threatening’ trial, but so far has recovered. Though it’s uncertain what the lasting impacts on her life will be as she grows up.
“We’ve got a really good support network in place. I don’t think you realise what kind of support you’ve got in place until you truly need it.
“And then you sit there and go ‘you know what, we’ve actually got a very good bunch of people around us helping us through it all’.”
Brain Tumour Charity has been a large support for the family, offering days where families can get together and share similar experiences, which helps provide one another with specialised understanding and support.
Bradley has never been a runner, but after recently getting into the sport, he decided to turn his new interest into something bigger and give back to the charities that have supported his family over the past year.
His plan is to run seven marathons from Monday 15 June, last year’s Father’s Day and a year to the day they found the tumour, to Sunday 21 June, this year’s Father’s Day.
The planned Sheffield parks include Rother Valley, Graves, Norfolk, Millhouses, Hillsborough, Endcliffe, and Western Park. His hope for support during the week is that friends and family, or any donors, might join him for smaller sections of his runs.
He plans to round off the week in Western Park on Sunday and finish outside the hospital he is supporting that has done so much for his daughter – Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
Donate to Bradley’s JustGiving page here