Runners hit the streets of Reading

A running enthusiast from Maidenhead is limbering up in preparation for this year’s Reading Half, which she is running in support of CLIC Sargent.

Clare Carver (23) has taken on the challenge to show her gratitude to the Charity for all the support it showed her family throughout her brother’s arduous battle with the illness eight years ago.

Clare’s younger brother, Matthew, was 12 when an x-ray following a minor accident during a game of football revealed he was suffering from Ewing’s sarcoma – a form of bone cancer.

Clare recalls: “The worst that we were expecting from his visit to the Doctor was a fractured bone. When the results of the x-ray came through showing they had found a tumour, we were all absolutely stunned.

“It all happened so quickly and within no time at all he was admitted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and had started an intense course of chemotherapy.

“Matthew spent the following year in and out of hospital. Being in Oxford, it was a long drive from where we lived which made getting him to and from his treatment potentially very costly and stressful. However, things were made massively easier for us by CLIC Sargent, as we were able to stay at CLIC Court – one of the Charity’s Homes from Home.  These offer free self catering accommodation close to the hospital so we could remain close by while Matthew was receiving his treatment. The house was amazing – 5 minutes from the hospital with a kitchen so you didn’t get stuck eating hospital food all the time and beds for us to stay in over the weekend whilst visiting Matthew. It really made life a lot easier for us.”

“Thankfully Matthew is now doing fine and has been in remission for nearly seven years. I am running the Reading Half to say a big, big thank you to CLIC Sargent for helping us through a very stressful time. The services they offer children and young people with cancer are just wonderful and I don’t quite know how we would have coped without this Charity’s support.”

Clare is also running the Reading Half in memory of her mother who sadly died in 2007 after a long fight with cancer. To sponsor Clare in the Reading Half, please visit www.justgiving.com/clare-carver

Kayley Waller, Running Events Coordinator, CLIC Sargent says, “For anyone interested in running the Reading Half Marathon for CLIC Sargent, we still have a few remaining gold bond places available. Please get in touch before gold bond registration closes on Thursday 4th March to avoid disappointment.

“This year, we expect to have around 100 people running for us, including celebrities Kai Owen (from the BBC’s Torchwood) and David Sturzaker and Matt Chambers (from the BBC’s lunchtime series, Doctors).  We hope to raise as much as £85,000 from the event which will go directly to help children with cancer and their families.”

For more information or to register for a CLIC Sargent running place, call Emma Sawicki, Running Events Administrator for CLIC Sargent on 0845 602 4770 or visit www.runfornurses.com.