Cancer charity campaigners completes marathon in North Pole
Jon Smith is raising money for the Wembley based The Lee Smith Foundation
A Wembley based cancer charity received a boost after a campaigner braved freezing temperatures to run a 26 mile marathon in the North Pole to raise much needed funds.
Jon Smith set up The Lee Smith Foundation, in Wembley Hill Road, Wembley, in 1982 in memory of his wife Lee whose life was cut tragically short when she died of leukaemia at just 29.
In a bid to raise vital funds for pioneering cancer treatment, determined Mr Smith flew out to the North Pole where he became the first man over 30 to complete the gruelling trek in 8 hours 34 minutes in temperatures dropping to minus 32 degrees.
The money raised will help pay for treatment for eight-year-old Alex Field, who suffers from brain cancer and needs pioneering cancer treatment in the USA.
It will also go towards funding new research in ‘TaNK therapy’ which looks at signals within cells which prevent some patients from relapsing.
A spokeswoman for the foundation said: “Jon is amazing, he has been through losing his wife whose last wish it was that nobody else should suffer as she did. It has spurred us on to action to help cancer sufferers.
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“We felt we had to do something in her memory. It was Lee’s dying wish that others shouldn’t suffer as she did, and we are doing everything in our power to keep Lee’s dying wish, to save the lives of millions of patients and avoid the pain, suffering and trauma for so many families.”
The charity is fundraising and anyone wanting to donate money should donate online at: www.virginmoneygiving.com/polarrunner or send cheques to: The Lee Smith Foundation Ltd, First Artist House, 85A Wembley Hill Road, Wembley, Middlesex, HA9 8BU, or phone Karen Rauch on 020-8958 6118.
