Two Hospice of the Valleys supporters completed the London Marathon recently, raising thousands of pounds for our charity.
One was Cathy Johnson, pictured here with her medal, just after finishing her first ever marathon in a time of five hours and 56 minutes.
Cathy, 53, who is from Tredegar and works for Barclays in Merthyr, has taken part in several Hospice challenges in recent years, including the National Three Peaks Challenge – twice – raising thousands of pounds.
Her partner Kevin Phillips’ late father Roland was a patient with the hospice and this has fuelled her motivation to raise money for the charity.
She has raised more than £1,500 for the Hospice through sponsorship for the marathon – and employers Barclays will match the first £1,000.
Ashley, who is sport and fitness manager with Aneurin Leisure, was also running his first London Marathon, completing the course in 3 hours 41 minutes.
He was running in support of the Hospice, partly because of the charity’s recently begun two-year partnership with Aneurin Leisure. But he also remembers the caring way the Hospice nurses looked after his father Gareth, who was a patient with the Hospice of the Valleys 11 years ago.
‘Jayne Medlicott in particular was a huge support to both my father and our family – I really liked the fact that she could bring some humour to what was obviously a very difficult situation,’ he says.
Hospice fundraiser Helen Morgan said: ‘We are extremely grateful to both Ashley and Cathy for their huge efforts in support of our charity. A huge well done to both of them!
