Matt Galley:
“Back in July and at the ripe old age of 52 I agreed to run the stroud half marathon on October 29th.
Last October Ben Jones (11 years old) a family friend and club captain for the team I manage was diagnosed with Cancer after they found lymphoma behind his nose, he was immediately admitted to hospital where they found a secondary in his stomach.
They operated on the one in his stomach and treated the one behind his nose with Chemo, fast forward to just over four months of permanently being in a Bristol hospital and he was well enough to leave and recently got his six month all clear. Being the trooper that he is he in actual fact managed to get back playing for us albeit in a reduced capacity back in April.
When his mum said she wanted to raise money for the charities that were superb and supported the family though this horrendous time and as she had no one to run with and on the back of a couple of beers it was agreed that both myself and his Dad would run it too.
Ben has been an absolute trooper throughout this process and everyone connected to him is so proud of him with the way he faced up to this with no grumbles and a massively positive attitude.
On the day over a 1000 runners turned out for the event from elite runners down to the not so elite! Myself and Tristan (Ben’s Dad) both ran it in the Cleeve Colts kit (sponsored by Altrad) and it was with a mix of pride and relief to finish it.
Together we’ve raised the sum of £4,381 for the associated charities.”
