I did it! Thank you…

Gordon at the Rpyal Parks Half Marathon

Thank you all for supporting me. I completed the half marathon in just under 2hrs 20mins. All went well apart from a strained calf that took place around mile 5. I was motivated to keep going by one generous  donor who offered me £10 for every minute I achieved under 3hrs. The £400 was worth the pain. In total I estimate that I have raised £45,000. It is not too late to add to this total. So many children are going to benefit. Due to the unique arrangements we have with our medical twinning partners the value that will be directly invested in the World Child Cancer projects will exceed the money that I have raised .

www.justgiving.com/g-morrison

Gordon

The Final Week

 

Children's cancer ward in Bangladesh

On Friday I finished an 11mile run, my last long run before the 9^th Oct. I will do a 6 mile run today and then rest until the big day. Fundraising is going extremely well but I would appreciate that bit of additional support. Since 1^st August I had scheduled to run 150 miles in training. I have already exceeded this through some additional and longer runs. My online sponsorship pages can be found by visiting www.justgiving.com/g-morrison 

One of our next projects is going to be in Bangladesh a country I visited 3 years ago. Bangladesh has some enormous challenges to face up to – our involvement will give children with no hope an opportunity to look positively into the future.  World Child Cancer’s most recent Trustee is Louise Soanes. Louise is a highly regarded children’s and young person’s cancer nurse working at Royal Marsden.  Louise has always maintained an active interest  in the work we do. Louise your support and involvement is very much appreciated.

Gordon

A Family Affair!

Gordon, Mary and Sophie

Less than two weeks to go until the big day and my training is going very well.  This morning I managed a 7 mile run and considering I took part in the World Child Cancer Orange Autumn Challenge yesterday, I didn’t feel too bad!  Yesterday’s walk was a great success and we had approximately 45 people walking along the River Thames raising funds for the Charity.  I was joined by my grandaughter Sophie and Mary my wife.  It was a beautiful day and enjoyed by everyone that took part.  One of our walkers was Anu Vedi.  Anu  has been a Trustee of World Child Cancer since the middle of 2010 and has been very proactive in introducing World Child Cancer to his extensive contact list through breakfast meetings. This has been such a great success that we have decided to introduce a series of Breakfast Club meetings, hosted by Anu throughout the year. Anu and his wife Shobna have also been regular attendees and participants at our fundraising events and we thank them both.

Don’t forget to support my fundraising efforts if you can… www.worldchildcancer.org/g-morrison or www.crowdrise.com/gmorrison

Gordon

 

Nearly there.

One of our young patients

Finished successfully my second training ½ marathon this morning and that will be my last before the Royal Parks Half Marathon on the 9th October. My time was quite good at 2hrs 15mins although I hear that the Great North Run was completed in under 1hr!  My legs do ache though. So many children are going to benefit from what I am doing so it will all be worth it.

Kenneth Dollman from South Africa and Olle Biork from Sweden joined our board of Trustees earlier this year. Kenneth has been very involved in CHOC, the South African Children’s cancer charity, and is currently on the board of ICCCPO the world wide child cancer parent organisation. Kenneth has spent considerable time visiting paediatric oncology hospitals in Africa and has a tremendous understanding of the challenges that Africa faces. Olle is chief executive of a Swedish Child cancer Charity who have been very supportive of the work of World Child Cancer. Thank-you Olle and Kenneth.

Gordon

£20,000 target

The sun was shining in Hertfordshire yesterday and I successfully completed a 9 mile training session in under 10mins per mile. With just over three weeks to go I am feeling a lot more confident about the run now. Fundraising is also going reasonably well and with a little more support we could achieve my target of £20,000. This amount will go a long way to funding a year of costs on our Malawi project. The photo attached is a picture of me with Professor Molyneux, our project leader at our project in Malawi.

Continuing on my theme of Trustees and volunteers I would like to mention Raul Ribeiro and Scott Howard who are both Senior  Paediatric Oncologists from St Jude hospital in Memphis. St Jude is a wonderful paediatric institution and is funded totally from charitable donations. Raul was one of our founding Trustees and Scott joined us as a Trustee last year. Their commitment to helping children with cancer across the globe is extremely impressive and they add tremendous strength and knowledge to our Medical Subcommittee. Thank-you Raul & Scott.

Please do what you can to support my effort by going to www.justgiving.com/g-morrison or www.crowdrise.com/gmorrison

Thank you. Gordon

 

An easier week…

Heavy golf commitments this week so I didn’t find the time to run. I did however carry my golf clubs so that has compensated a bit! I managed to run 4 miles this morning at a faster pace than normal – 9mins 43 secs per mile. Fundraising is going well so thank you to everyone that has sponsored me.  We are still hoping to raise a little more though!  

www.worldchildcancer.org/g-morrison

Thank you

Gordon

Tessa welcomes Gordon Home

Today I ran a half marathon for the first time. The route took me around the farm and I managed to do it in a time of 2hr 20mins.  When I started my training some 8 months ago, I did doubt whether it was possible. It just shows what a lot of hard work and dedication can do. This week I will have ran 28miles in total but it’s all worth it.  My trusted dog Tessa started out with me but after about 4 miles she decided to return home, but she was there to welcome me at the finish!

One of our Trustees is Simon Lala, from New Zealand.  Simon is a founding Trustee and has set up a World Child Cancer NZ charity,  His goal is to fund a child cancer project in the Pacific Islands. World Child Cancer will work alongside Simon supporting him with the twinning arrangements and the development of the project. Hopefully we will see this project go live in 2012. Thank -you Simon.

You can still sponsor me by visiting www.justgiving.com/g-morrison or www.crowdrise.com/gmorrison

Thank you. Gordon

Tessa welcomed me home.