Staff from Bexhill based insurance broker Hastings Direct are joining local running group, Born Ready Runners to fundraise for a children's cancer charity at this year's Brighton Marathon on Sunday April 6th.
The team — pictured in T shirts donated by Hastings Direct — will be fundraising for the charity the Neuroblastoma Children's Cancer Alliance and are aiming to raise £10,000 for the charity which offers a lifeline to young children needing specialised cancer treatment not funded by the NHS.
Hastings Direct's commercial manager, Chris Hawkes created Born Ready Runners after he heard a Brighton father speaking about his four year old son's — Felix — battle with this disease. A battle Felix ultimately lost after treatment including seventeen rounds of chemotherapy in August last year.
Hawkes: "After launching last March, 2013 was an amazing year for Born Ready Runners. We hoped to raise just £1000 for NCCA and finally donated £3713. This year we want to raise £10,000.
From left to right — Born Ready Runners: Matt Pickering (Sussex Bed Centre), Chris Hawkes (Hastings Direct), Katie King (Little Common School), Andy Barden (British Gypsum), Marc Jones (Culverwells), Erik Chapman (Hastings Direct)
"Our biggest challenge of 2014 is Brighton Marathon — this is the first full marathon we have run and eleven of us are training hard.We're doing this to help an amazing charity which works tirelessly to support the families whose brave children are suffering from the aggressive cancer Neurobalastoma"
Neuroblastoma is a very aggressive childhood cancer and two children each week in the UK are diagnosed with this life limiting cancer. The NCCA helps families access potentially lifesaving treatment whilst supporting research that not only aims to introduce new treatments but also bring existing internationally available options here to the UK.
If you would like to support the team, please donate at Just Giving Born Ready Runners Brighton Marathon