Marathon for good cause
A FORMER Montrose man will run his first marathon in 23 years next month to help raise awareness and funds for a little-known cancer treatment.
Gordon Phillips will don his running shoes for the London Marathon on April 25 and is aiming to raise more than 1,000 for the Cancer Thermal Ablation Fund.
Mr Phillips, who now lives in Laurencekirk, heard about the organisation through a friend, whose best friend had been supported by the charity during his own illness.
He said: "I got my place in the marathon and charities got in touch to ask if I'd run for them, and I felt that if I was going to do this I should give myself some incentive and run for an organisation.
"My friend lost his best friend last year to cancer and I thought I'd run the marathon for this group which gave him a lot of support and help with treatment when he was struggling.
"While the other charities are great, I felt this serves a need as it's a fairly new form of treatment and there's a reasonable lack of awareness about what they do."
The charity was set up after its founder, Jean Ratcliff, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2003. She received radiofrequency ablation therapy as part of her treatment and now campaigns to raise money to train UK doctors in the technique. While it is available in other countries, there is little availability in Britain.
Funds raised are also put towards the development of technology and continuing research in the field.
The treatment is less invasive than some and uses heat energy to destroy tumours using radiofrequency and microwave technology. It has been used to treat tumours in different parts of the body including liver, lung, kidney and bone.
Mr Phillips added that while he has set himself a fundraising target of 1,000, he is keen to raise a much as possible.
He said: "I've already raised about 800 just from people I know and with gift aid that will be almost 1,000 but it would be great to raise more and I've also set up a Justgiving page."
Although he has run six or seven marathons, the last one being London, Mr Phillips has not done any serious running since 1987 and is so far approaching his training regime with care.
He continued: "It's a bit mad. I cycle quite a lot but this kind of thing you do tend to forget the pain of it. I'm 23 years older and I'm not setting myself any times and putting pressure on myself.
"The plan is just to get there and just enjoy it. In the past I was so focused on times that I don't think I had a chance to enjoy it.
"I've a slight problem with my left calf so I'm trying to train without too much road running. I'm doing a lot on the treadmill which is a bit soul-destroying but I'm trying to get into it gently."
Anyone wishing to sponsor Mr Phillips can do so online at http://www.justgiving.com/gordonmustbemad2010.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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