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[back to news]| Hayley’s Running for a Reason 26/05/2009  Last year Hayley Roberts was watching the Experian Robin Hood Marathon from the sidelines as a marshal. But this September she will be amongst the thousands of other runners pounding the streets out on the course. Hayley, 33, from Bestwood Park will be running the half marathon to raise money for children’s cancer charity, CLIC Sargent, who helped her son Ashdon when the unthinkable happened. Ashdon was just eight years old when he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a form of cancer affecting the lymphatic system. The following six months saw Ashdon undergoing an intensive course of chemotherapy at the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC). Hayley Roberts said: “When I heard that Ashdon had cancer, it just didn’t sink in. But it didn’t take long for it to take over our lives. Just two days after diagnosis, we were on a cancer ward where we stayed for the next six months. Without our CLIC Sargent Social Worker, I wouldn’t have found the strength to cope, which is why I wanted to run the half marathon for the charity.” As a single parent, Hayley found it hard on the ward on her own, she continued: “There was no-one to talk to about how I felt, and I began to worry about my finances too. The diagnosis came as a huge shock but within hours we met Esther, our CLIC Sargent Social Worker. Though she couldn’t change the diagnosis, she helped us handle the incredible changes in our lives, which happened overnight. Esther is someone that Ashdon would talk to, about all aspects of his illness.” Hayley and her father Brian marshalled the marathon for CLIC Sargent in 2008, but this year she was determined to do more. Hayley continued, “I decided to start jogging in the New Year in a bid to get fitter and meet people. I joined the Huffers & Puffers running group in Woodthorpe and they have helped me so much. “I did the Shape Up Notts 5k run in April and am now up to six miles, which is further than I have ever run before. I am training three times a week with the group and trying to get them all to run for CLIC Sargent as well.” Cathy Partridge, a former member of the Shape Up Notts half marathon team, set up and runs the Huffers & Puffers in Woodthorpe. She said, “We're all so proud of Hayley, she hasn't always found the training easy but she's really determined and dedicated and never misses a session! She's already running six miles regularly and will be flying by September, so much so that she might have to quit the Huffers and Puffers and join a proper running club!” Hayley added, “We are so grateful that Ashdon, who will be 14 this August, has made a full recovery and is back at school, carrying on with life as normal. Hopefully he will be joining me on the day, doing the Fun Run. There isn’t a day goes by when I don’t think about what he went through and that is why I am determined to make it through the half marathon. I don’t have a target time, just want to get round.” As one of the official charities of the event, together with The Fire Fighters Charity, Headway – the brain injury association and the Alzheimers Society, CLIC Sargent is in charge of sourcing marshals (volunteers) to stuff the runner’s goody bags and marshals to cover the course and event village on the embankment.  |
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