Last year, Steve King ran 10 marathons in 10 days for Saint Francis Hospice. This year, he went 10 better.
There’s a shroud of mystery surrounding why a marathon has an unusually specific distance of 26.2 miles, but Steve did the whole hog – every day for 20 days.
If covering 524 miles of ground over 90 hours wasn’t enough, his daily workout involved getting up at the crack of dawn each morning and driving from Benfleet to Gravesend’s Cylcopark.
Steve has been an avid supporter of Saint Francs Hospice ever since the charity cared for his dad. Maxwell King received the all-clear from bowel cancer when he was 61.
‘We were all really hopeful,’ Steve remembered. ‘After surgery to remove the tumour, Dad went back to doing all the normal things he liked doing.’
Sadly, seven years later, cancer spread to Maxwell’s lungs and chest wall. Doctors told Maxwell and his family that this time, there was nothing they could do.
Maxwell went to stay on the Hospice’s ward during the Christmas of 2018. Steve is the first to admit that he had no idea what the Hospice does until he needed them.
‘I didn’t know what to expect,’ he explained.
‘Yet, I was amazed by the place. How much work goes into Saint Francis Hospice, and how much money it needs to keep running, blew me away. After the government has given their bit, the Hospice needs to find £26,000 a day to survive. That figure has always stuck with me. Dad wasn’t in pain anymore; the nurses’ care was unbelievable. Their compassion and knowledge were incredible.’
At the turn of the new year, Maxwell lay unconscious, and the Hospice’s nurses told Steve and his family that Maxwell was taking his final breaths.
‘How they knew exactly when Dad would pass still astounds me to this day,’ Steve revealed.
Maxwell passed away peacefully with his loved ones around him. He was 72.
‘I wanted to say thanks to the Hospice for how they cared for my dad,’ Steve said. ‘The Hospice touched my heart. It didn’t cost us anything for Dad to go in, so I grab any opportunity to give a little back.’
Steve has some advice for anyone who’d like to fundraise for the Charity: ‘Whatever little amount you can raise, then do it. If nobody did any fundraising, then people wouldn’t get the care they truly deserve at the end of their lives.’
Thank you, Steve, for raising an incredible £3,000 for the Hospice’ patients and their families.
If you have a fundraising idea, no matter how small, then setting up a Just Giving page is simple and totally secure. The Hospice is there to support you every step of the way while you watch the money roll in.
