After months of grueling training, thousands of runners completed the London Marathon, on 22 April 2018. Sunday’s marathon was the hottest on record as runners completed the 26.2 mile event in over 23c heat. A huge congratulations to all of our runners who went the extra mile in the fight against blood cancer. Meet our runners Bethan Williams, 28, a Senior Assistant Buyer for ASOS, had planned to raise £3,000 in honour of her dad Keith Williams. Bethan said: “The type of leukaemia that my dad has sadly will never be cured.
After months of grueling training, thousands of runners completed the London Marathon, on 22 April 2018.
Sunday’s marathon was the hottest on record as runners completed the 26.2 mile event in over 23c heat.
A huge congratulations to all of our runners who went the extra mile in the fight against blood cancer.
Meet our runners
Bethan Williams, 28, a Senior Assistant Buyer for ASOS, had planned to raise £3,000 in honour of her dad Keith Williams.
Bethan said: “The type of leukaemia that my dad has sadly will never be cured. However, the treatment that he has had at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, has improved his condition enough to go back to a living a normal life.
“My dad is my world and although we are extremely lucky he is able to manage his condition, I couldn’t help but think of the many others whose best chance at life is through a blood stem cell donor.”
Photo: Brave Bethan completes London Marathon
Bethan with her father and brother at the finish line
In 2016, John Lace’s wife, Lizzie discovered she had myeloma and has had to undergo radiotherapy and bone marrow extraction.
John ran the marathon to raise vital funds and awareness of our mission to provide a matching donor for every blood cancer patient in need of a blood stem cell donation.
John said: “DKMS is a fantastic charity doing amazing and important work, so please give as much as you can.”
John with wife Lizzie.
A running donor
We now have over 8 million active donors registered with us. With over 350,000 of these donors living in the UK, including Rob Toogood.
Rob registered as a potential lifesaver in 2016 and said: By donating your blood stem cells, you are giving someone a chance at survival.”
Rob knows that every penny raised will help us recruit more potential blood stem cell donors.
A friend indeed
Kirsty Moulsley decided she wanted to run on behalf one of her oldest school friend's son, Erkki.
Kirsty said: “Erkki has been diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia and I hope that this fundraising will help the work DKMS does in recruiting stem cell donors.
“The first steps of the registration process is easy - just a mouth swab which could help some in a similar situation to Erkki find their matching donor.”
Looking for 2019 runners
Thanks to all our runners for going the distance. If you have been inspired to run the London Marathon why not apply for your 2019 ballot place?