Samantha Collins is another Croydon fund-runner taking part in this Sunday’s London Marathon.
Running times: Crystal Palace Fun Runner Samantha Collins will be one of thousands raising money for charity in Sunday’s London Marathon
Collins is running with a target of nearly £2,000 to support national charity Leukaemia Care.
Collins, 46, will be running the London for the fourth time, but after taking part in 2021’s “virtual” marathon, she says she is looking forward to running again in person this year.
She has chosen Leukaemia Care as her cause because her husband, Andy, was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia six years ago.
“I have been training with my running club Crystal Palace Fun Runners who have given me great support,” Collins said.
“I am so happy to have been offered a charity place with Leukaemia Care as it really does mean a lot to me.
“My husband was due to have an operation and a week before this he had to have a pre-operation blood test done.
“The results showed that he may possibly have CML. He was called at work and told to go straight to the GP to discuss his blood results.
Ready to go the distance: runner Samantha Collins
“It was a huge shock for us, and our world just changed overnight. This also came at an already difficult and sad time; we had only just lost his mum two months before his diagnosis, from a different cancer.
“He was booked in for a bone marrow biopsy to see how bad it was and what treatment was needed. We attended weekly hospital appointments for testing and monitoring. We now attend every three months for monitoring and his treatment is a chemotherapy tablet which he has to take daily.
“We feel so very lucky that Andy is still here and that it was caught early enough. After diagnosis, Andy did admit that he hadn’t been feeling himself for quite a while before but he just kept putting down to other things.
“I would like to raise as much money and awareness as I can for Leukaemia Care because they give amazing support to anyone affected by blood cancer and their families.”
Zoe Makings, who works with the marathon runners at Leukaemia Care, said, “Our runners make all the difference to people who need that bit of extra support. I’ve followed all our runners, including Samantha from the point of sign up and I can’t wait for her to cross that finishing line.”
Visit www.justgiving.com/SJ-Collins3 to see Samantha’s donation page.
Samantha is also holding a black-tie charity ball on Saturday October 15 to raise funds and awareness. Delroy Anglin from the TV show Can’t Pay We Will Take It Away will be a special guest who will share his own personal story to raise awareness.
To purchase tickets, email to samsscentsandaromas@outlook.com.
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