Will Matthews crossed the line at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Fundraising page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-55year-old-mum-and-nanny-battle-stage-4-cancer
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00:00We're going to go down there.
00:03Whistle blows.
00:22Whistle blows.
00:49Whistle blows.
01:18Whistle blows.
01:31Whistle blows.
01:51Whistle blows.
02:01I've got a mix of emotions. Relieved, definitely exhausted.
02:06Yeah, I'm just happy it's done really and managed to raise a good amount of money for the fundraising,
02:11which is obviously the main reason I'm doing this.
02:14Definitely not doing it for fun.
02:16So yeah, hopefully just keep raising more and more money for it.
02:19How much money have you raised for the fundraiser already, do you know?
02:22I believe last time I checked, last night, it was just over £19,000.
02:28And you're raising money for your mum's cancer treatment.
02:31Will you be able to describe what that treatment is?
02:33Yeah, so basically it's another type of chemotherapy treatment.
02:37So she's had a couple of different chemotherapy treatments already,
02:41but because of stage 4 cancer, even though it did work a bit, it wasn't enough to cure it.
02:47She then had another drug trial and didn't do a huge amount, and immunotherapy.
02:52And then she was offered another drug trial, which was quite unlikely to work,
02:57and this next round of chemotherapy.
03:00So the only issue with that was we needed to fund it ourselves, which is why I'm doing this.
03:06It sounds like you felt like you had to step up, because obviously a couple of bumps you were on the road,
03:11your mum's treatment was going quite well, but then hitting a bit of snag.
03:14How did it feel doing something tangible to help your mum and the rest of your family?
03:18I think I speak for everyone that's got a mum, really.
03:21You go your whole life and your mum's the one that's doing everything for you,
03:24so it's my chance to give back just 1% of what my mum's done for me.
03:33And doing all these marathons, you said you weren't doing this for fun,
03:36that you weren't that much of a keen runner.
03:38What was that journey like? How did it feel to complete one large run and then go to another one?
03:43Before I started, I thought for 2 minutes I wasn't expecting it to be as hard as it was,
03:48just me being a bit silly.
03:52But early on, I think until day 3, I remember sitting down on a bench and thinking,
03:57oh my God, I've absolutely screwed up, I've got no chance of finishing this.
04:01But you just get up every day, get it done, and eventually, before you know it, you're here.
04:08And that moment all paid off?
04:10I saw you being very emotional when you were doing the last couple of bits,
04:13seeing your mum and dad and your brother.
04:14That must have been an amazing sight that was well worth all those miles.
04:17Yeah, 100%. It's one of those things, visualising it for almost 2 weeks,
04:21and then finally here, it's almost surreal that it's actually done.
04:26And finally now, after going through all that journey,
04:29you're hoping that the fundraiser will be shared around.
04:31Do you think it will give the fundraiser a major boost for your mum's treatment?
04:34100%. I hope so, because more money, better.
04:40Initially, we were just trying to raise for the first three rounds of it.
04:44If it is successful and it is working, we're going to need a lot more than that.
04:48So it could cost over £50,000, so we just need to get it out there as much as possible
04:53and raise as much money.
04:55Well, it's phenomenal. I mean, I'm bursting with pride.
04:59Bursting with pride.
05:00Was it an emotional moment to see him after all this time and all this running?
05:03Very emotional. Yeah, I'm not really an emotional person,
05:06but it certainly brought a tear to my eye today seeing him complete this,
05:10because when he told me what he was going to do, I just thought it was mad.
05:13Yeah, it's an amazing thing he's done for me.
05:17The family have rallied around the fundraiser,
05:19and I know it's already raised roughly £19,000 of us.
05:22How are you feeling that a lot of people have rallied around the cause for your treatment?
05:27Oh, it's fantastic. It's really heartfelt, isn't it?
05:30You know, heartwarming that they've been so generous and so kind.
05:34It's enabled me to, you know, pay for my first three treatments,
05:38which is fantastic because hopefully when I have my scan later this month,
05:43hopefully it will prove that it's working and then I can carry on with further treatment.
05:49Well, so your treatment has been going sort of well,
05:52but certainly some things worked and some things haven't.
05:54Would you be able to tell us a bit more about that journey
05:57of trying to find the right treatment for yourself?
05:59Well, the doctors told me that it was incurable from the start,
06:03but obviously you always hope that you can be that one person that actually can prove them wrong
06:10or that for you, you're that exceptional person that it does work 100% for.
06:17So all the time I'm here, I will keep trying to find that cure.
06:22And if it is only just to prolong my life, then that's what I have to deal with.
06:27But I'm just looking for that wonder cure, really.
06:32Because there's hope that the cure and the treatment will allow you
06:36to share more wonderful moments with both your sons as well?
06:39Exactly.
06:41And with the treatment itself, obviously the doctors told you that it was incurable.
06:47How do you think the treatment so far has been going?
06:49Okay, do you believe that a miracle cure, like you said, can be found?
06:54Yeah, I do believe that.
06:55I mean, there's always that one in a million person that it works exceptionally well for
07:00and if it's worked for others in the past, I don't see why it shouldn't be the next one
07:04that it might work exceptionally well for.
07:07And obviously there's a fundraising goal that's a bit higher than £90,000.
07:12Do you think with all this hard work that your son has put in, do you think they'll hit that goal?
07:16Definitely. I think with his effort, that's what's helped us achieve that.
07:21I mean, the fundraising effort is just immense.
07:24I'm incredibly proud of what he's done.
07:27And seeing him run down there at that last final stretch, I felt so emotional
07:32and I wanted to just burst into tears.
07:34And just talking about it now makes me quite emotional.
07:38But he's such a good lad. I mean, we couldn't have asked for more.
07:42All through his life, he's always pushed to do things.
07:45Anything that's grabbed his attention, he's always gone at it 100%, which he has done for this.
07:50He sounded incredibly determined to do all of this
07:53and do something that he didn't particularly want to do in terms of the actual running.
07:57But the amount of effort that he actually put into it, it must bring a smile to your face, mustn't it?
08:02Absolutely, yeah. I kind of feel that if he'd fallen over and broken his leg,
08:06he would have still carried on on his hands and knees.
08:08He's that kind of guy. He's a great son.
08:12And what do you think of the amount of money the fundraiser has attracted already, around £19,000?
08:17Well, it's fantastic. I mean, I can't believe the generosity of people.
08:21In many ways, it's renewed my faith in humanity.
08:25But on top of that, although we set the GoFundMe page at £20,000,
08:30that's just the tip of the iceberg because that pays for the initial first three months
08:35after which Lorna's meant to have a scan to find out whether the actual drug is working or not.
08:41If it is working, then we just keep going.
08:45And that basically equates to £6,000 every three weeks.
08:48So it's an incredible amount of money that we need to raise.
08:51So it's not just the £20,000 that we've set on the GoFundMe page.
08:56That will be indefinite. As long as the drug is working, we'll just go on.
09:01So it's a ridiculous amount of money to try and raise.
09:05Lorna's diagnosis must have been a major shock for the family at the time.
09:09The long road of different sorts of treatments must have taken its toll, mustn't it?
09:13Absolutely, yeah. There's been a few cases or periods along that way where we've thought that this is it.
09:20She's not going to last much longer.
09:23But she's a strong girl. She's always been strong and determined.
09:27And I think a lot of that is what's managed to get her through all of this.
09:31Initially, she was diagnosed and given 18 months, and we're now at 28 months.
09:36So she's done really well up to now.
09:39But cancer's a terrible thing. We all know that. Now one in two people are getting it.
09:46And it just ruins your life. Our whole life has been put on hold.
09:52We just don't know where we're going, how long she's going to last.
09:56Is she going to last? Is she going to find a cure for this?
09:59And it just rips your soul out, really.
10:04It's kind of speechless. Your whole life's on hold. You just don't know where you're going.
10:10You can't really see any future, any plans that you had for retirement.
10:13Lorna's 55, I'm 57. We're sort of working towards retirement.
10:18We had all these plans, loose plans at the moment to maybe get a camper van and go off around York for six months or so.
10:27But whether that will ever happen now, I don't know. I don't think so.
10:33You mentioned earlier that all those doubts and all those questions popped up for yourself and the rest of the family members throughout Lorna's treatment.
10:39And that must be really debilitating, even if you get times to have a relax away from work and away from the stressors.
10:45Those questions will always be there, won't they?
10:47Yeah. You think of it from when you wake up in the morning to when you go to bed at night.
10:51You dream about it. It just takes over your life.
10:54You can't see any light at the end of the tunnel. All you can think about is this cancer.
10:59It's not just the person that's suffering from the cancer that is suffering.
11:03It's family and close friends and even work colleagues.
11:08Everyone at work is so devastated, both myself and Lorna. We work in the same place.
11:13We've both worked for the NHS for probably amounting to between us for about 70 years.
11:19And so that's almost become our second family.
11:24Everyone at work has been very supportive, donated lots of money towards us.
11:29But, yeah, it's just everyone is affected, not just Lorna and myself.
11:34And finally, obviously, we've got this new treatment coming up and the scan that you mentioned to find out if the treatment is working.
11:41How are you feeling ahead of that treatment and possibly the fundraising amount of money going up?
11:46Do you think the treatment will prove positive? Lorna seems confident that it will go okay.
11:52Yeah, I mean, she's had three sessions of the new treatment now.
11:57But just before she started, she was pretty much bedridden.
12:02She'd get up in the morning and just sit on the sofa and sleep pretty much all the time.
12:07She had no energy. She looked very ill. She could hardly eat.
12:12But since the last three months now on this new drug, she has improved a fair amount.
12:19And I'm hoping that is a sign that it's working.
12:23We've got the scan booked. I think it's in a couple of weeks' time.
12:27And hopefully from that, we'll get the result which we're looking for.
12:31But see if that means then we can start trying to raise more money.