Grandson, 28, vows to run London Marathon in honour of ‘rock of the family’ grandad who died of leukaemia

A 28-year-old man is running the 2026 TCS London Marathon in honour of his “rock of the family” grandfather, who died of leukaemia in February 2025, aged 77, less than a year after his diagnosis.

Rhys Morris, a civil servant from Cardiff, was incredibly close to his paternal grandad, Sidney Marshall Morris, who was a deep-sea scuba diver and a “typical Welsh Valleys man who loved rugby” and his dogs.

Rhys said his grandad took him and his family out on his boat almost every Saturday and deliberately fell off the side to make them all laugh. Into adulthood, Rhys remembered it was always his “grandad to the rescue” during emergencies, like his car battery dying or needing to change a tyre on the side of the road.

Rhys told PA Real Life: “He was very inspirational to us all and he was just a delight. He was the best grandad I could ask for.”

As for his health, Rhys said his grandad was the “fittest man” he ever met and never needed to go to the doctor. But at the end of 2023, when Marshall was in his early 70s, he started to experience some health issues, which is when Rhys’ nanny, Patricia, urged her husband to go to the doctor.

Marshall was “back and forth” to the doctor and was devastated to receive his leukaemia diagnosis in March 2024.

“I remember my dad calling me,” Rhys said. “He asked where I was, who I was with, and what I was doing. That’s when I panicked because when someone starts asking me those questions, I expect the worst. I was told then that Grandad had leukaemia and the first thing I did was burst out crying.

“I was really upset just thinking that it was a matter of days or weeks or months. I hadn’t really prepared myself for that,” he said.

Marshall started a treatment of blood transfusions and medication, as well as regular monitoring with blood tests and scans, which left him lethargic and unwell.

Then on December 27 2024, Rhys received a call from his father telling him that his grandad had taken a “turn for the worse” and had been taken to hospital with a bleed on the brain.

Rhys could not see his grandad in the hospital that evening because Marshall was “severely unwell”, but he visited him in his hospital bed every single day for the next three weeks. He said he marvelled at his grandad’s joking spirit with the medical staff and his positivity whenever he was asked how he was, always responding: “I’m fine, how are you?”

By the end of January 2025, the family were made aware that there was nothing more that could be done for Marshall and that he should start end-of-life care, which is when a care plan was put in place and Marshall returned home from hospital. It was during this time that the UK’s leading end of life charity, Marie Curie, became involved.

Marie Curie nurses and healthcare assistants provided support by sitting with Marshall while Patricia could sleep for an hour or two, or even just offering to make a cup of tea or coffee, to which Rhys joked: “I don’t think I’ve ever drunk that much coffee in my life.”

Then, on February 4 2025, Rhys received a call from his dad urging him to come and say goodbye to his grandad. He said: “As I walked in, I saw nanny crying and really distraught. Then grandad took his last breath, and I think that it was almost like he waited for me.

“We all sat there with him, held him, comforted nanny, and talked about all the good times we had with him,” he said.

For the funeral in March 2025, Rhys bought a new suit and wore his grandad’s cufflinks as a way to honour him. He was one of four pallbearers, with his two brothers, Nathan and Keiron, and cousin, Dylan.

Rhys said: “As we brought the coffin into the church, all I could do was look down. Then, as I was halfway, I looked up and the church was absolutely ram-packed. I was completely blown away that there were so many people there.”

The crematorium service had a similarly “extraordinary turnout” and Rhys said it was an emotional but “incredible” day.

In April 2025, Rhys was scrolling on social media and came across a sponsored post announcing Marie Curie as the official Charity of the Year for the London Marathon. On a whim, he decided to apply for a spot and filled out a form explaining why he wanted to run it for the end-of-life charity.

Within a few days, Rhys said he received a call from a Marie Curie staff member who said they read his answers and “loved” all of his memories about his grandad, before asking if he wanted a spot in the London Marathon.

Rhys said he “froze” but instinctively said yes and immediately worried how he was going to pull it off. So shortly after, he opened Instagram and typed in the words “running coach near me” to find someone to help him train for the big event.

He booked a call and confessed to the coach that he had not run for “years and years”. They agreed on a plan and Rhys started training from August 2025.

Rhys has since had a gait analysis to find the right running shoes, bought “proper running clothing”, and been “hooked” on looking at electrolytes, hydration gels and hitting protein targets every day.

As for the actual running, Rhys said: “Initially, I was finding that I could run for a while, but I was just completely ruined afterwards. And then I found that I was actually running too fast. This is a marathon, not a sprint so I had to slow that run all the way down.”

Rhys said he is planning to commemorate his grandad somehow on the day of the London Marathon on April 26, but he is not sure how yet. In an ideal world, he said he would love for his nanny to be able to present his medal to him at the end.

On how his grandad would react to Rhys doing the London Marathon, he said: “He’d think I’m absolutely crazy. He would honestly say it’s not a good idea. Because it’s exactly what my nanny said and they were like two peas in a pod.”

“I have got to do this because of what Marie Curie has done for my grandad,” he said.

Marie Curie, the 2026 TCS London Marathon Charity of the Year, has partnered with running community Run Your Mind to host a series of dedicated run clubs for people experiencing grief, held once a month from January to April. You can find out more and sign up to the next run on their website here: https://events.mariecurie.org.uk/ps/event/GriefRunClub.