Daughter prepares for back-to-back marathon challenge in memory of her dad

The daughter of a man who died from a brain tumour is preparing to run three marathons back-to-back to raise money to find a cure for the disease.

Keith Jackson from Milnrow, died in February 2020, just three months after he was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (GBM) aged 54. Delayed radiotherapy treatment due to an infection proved too gruelling and Keith made the decision to cease all treatment and he died just three months after being diagnosed.

In October 2019, whilst in Portugal where he was building a house in preparation for his retirement, Keith’s family noticed the first signs of his brain tumour and doctors in Portugal recommended he return home for urgent care.

His daughter, Lianne Jackson, 26, said: “Our family live all across the country so we regularly video called and on one particular call, it was as if Dad was drunk. When he spoke it sounded like nonsense and he would often start a new sentence without finishing the last one. He’d also make stuff up which we knew hadn’t happened as if he was overexcited.”

Upon his immediate arrival to the UK, Keith suffered a second episode of confusion and after not recognising his own house, he was taken to Salford Royal Hospital in Greater Manchester where a scan revealed a lesion on his brain.

She added: “I had missed calls from my brother, Luke, when we finally spoke on the phone he told me that Dad was in hospital with a brain tumour. This was the first I had heard of Dad going to hospital, let alone having a tumour. I had so many questions I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

In memory of her father, Lianne, a marine science project manager from Plymouth, is preparing to take on three marathons in as many days as part of the Atlantic Coastal Challenge. This will see the amateur runner take on 126.6km (78.6miles) of undulating coastal trails with the support of Luke as well as her partner and uncle.

“Dad encouraged me and Luke to live our lives to the fullest and didn’t want us to see him ill. He had a few sessions of radiotherapy which made him very sick and he decided to stop any further treatment, and eventually became bedridden and stopped eating.

“When I visited him in February, I sat next to him, talking and reading. As I got up to leave, I leant over to give him a kiss on the cheek and felt him grab my hand and as he said ‘I love you’ I knew that would be the last time I see my dad.

“He always wanted to donate his body to science however because of the treatment he received from the brain tumour and a previous diagnosis of lymphoma, he couldn’t. Raising money for Brain Tumour Research is my way of honouring him through something I know he would have supported,” she said.

 

 

Brain tumours kill more men under 70 than prostate cancer, yet historically just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to brain tumours.

Mel Tiley, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: “Stories such as Keith’s are devastating and highlight the lack of treatment options for patients diagnosed with brain tumours. We’re grateful to Lianne for sharing her dad’s story with us and wish her all the best as she takes on an incredibly tough challenge to help raise awareness of this horrific disease.”

To donate to Brain Tumour Research via Lianne’s marathon challenge please visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Lianne-Jackson-3marathons

Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the Government and the larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure. The charity is the driving force behind the call for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia and is also campaigning for greater repurposing of drugs.