Martin Wood London Marathon 2022

It was Christmas 2014, it was also the day of my wedding day 20th December, my dad was looking really well, he'd recently recovered from prostrate cancer and was in remission having beat it early that year.

In the days after my wedding my dad began to feel really unwell, he spent the coming days in bed, including Christmas day, he barely had any energy. He was told by his GP that he may have had food poisoning and was also found to have radiation proctitis but his bloods were unusually low. Given his previous fight with cancer, he gave blood samples for further tests to be carried out and was told to await results.

The blood samples were in, the GP referred my Dad to Castlehill where he had a bone marrow biopsy. They thought that his GP was just being cautious and he was told the results would be ready in a month and he was discharged. The next day the Haematology Doctor rang and informed him to travel to Castle Hill Hospital, Cottingham, Hull and bring an overnight bag. Results showed that he had Acute promyelocytic leukaemia. It was treatable but he may suffer side effects and would have remain in hospital for weeks during the treatment. First reactions after the shock were that thankfully it can be beaten, this is exactly what he was going to do.

Over the coming months we lost our ‘normal’ dad to the cancer and the treatment. He became withdrawn, spent a huge amount of time, months, as an inpatient and barely wanted to see us. He couldn't talk due to the chemotherapy causing multiple mouth ulcers. He was stick thin, hardly ate and just wanted to be by himself. He hated us seeing him like that. Basically, unrecognisable but after months of chemotherapy, blood and platelet transfusions, the treatment ended and he still had to have bone marrow biopsies. Months after he was discharged the news came that he was in remission.

I had wanted to run the London Marathon to raise awareness and money given the fantastic treatment and care that he'd received. I wanted to give back and celebrate my dad being with us. Those reasons remain the same but since entering, the bad news arrived.

Unfortunately, in January this year, Leukaemia raised its ugly head once again and my dad was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. This time, there was no cure and my he was given six months to live by the specialists. Sadly, on Thursday 23rd June at 4.39am, my dad lost his battle and passed away after two weeks of end of life care. He battled to the end and gave every last fight.

Life is cruel but my dad is no longer in pain. He will be with me as I run the London marathon in his name, he will get me over the finish line.

I want to raise this money on behalf of my family, so that Leukaemia UK can continue with their amazing work in medical research and awareness and find ways to prevent/treat all forms of leukaemia. The more we know and understand about blood cancers, the more effectively we can treat/prevent it.

Please donate anything you can, it doesn't matter how big or small it is, your kindness will be appreciated whatever your donation and in exactly the same way.

Thank you

Martin
Martin Wood