Man raises £21,000 for charity from 13 marathon hikes in memory of father and sister who both died of cancer

A 69-year-old Hampshire man has raised more than £21,000 for charity through hiking marathon distances after both his father and sister died of cancer.

Richard Martin, a retired financial services professional from Hythe, said his father, Alan Martin, died at 62 in 1998 from lung cancer and his sister, Teresa Godwin, died at 56 in 2008 after a relapse from breast cancer.

He said this inspired him to become a “lead volunteer” for the cancer charity Macmillan, including organising supermarket collections and working as a “buddy” who calls somebody living with cancer once a week.

He has also completed 13 Mighty Hikes across the UK for the charity, where he said his father and sister are “at the forefront” of his mind “every time” he crosses a finishing line.

Richard told PA Real Life: “At the start of the hikes, Macmillan have little paper sheets on which you can write the reason why you’re doing it. So I always pin on the back of my rucksack the fact that I’m walking for my sister and my dad.

“Especially when I’ve done a solo walk, that has sparked conversation. That’s the thing I love about Mighty Hikes – you’ll share with people why you’re doing it and that’s something really special.

“When I did the South Coast Mighty Hike, I almost went a whole hour without seeing somebody and then all of a sudden, I came across two people, so I just stood and chatted with them.

“One of them had lost his wife to cancer and I shared my story about my sister. I just find it heart-warming,” he said.

Reflecting on his father’s health before his death, Richard said Alan had a heart attack in his mid-50s and had “done really well to recover from it”.

“He’d got himself fit and lost weight,” Richard said. “After a period of real anxiety, he got over it and was looking really well.”

Then when Alan was in his early 60s, Richard said his father developed a “dry cough”, which prompted Alan’s wife, Dawn Martin, to encourage him to get it checked by a doctor and eventually he received his lung cancer diagnosis.

Richard said his father initially “decided to keep it quiet” from him and his siblings, including his sister Teresa, and his two younger brothers, David and Tim, so it was not until Christmas in 1996 that they learned the news.

“At that stage, he was still fairly optimistic about treatment working,” Richard said.

He added that Alan went through both chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but they did not stop the cancer from spreading.

A week before Alan died in 1998, Richard said he knew the end was coming so he went to see his father and remembers: “I probably didn’t say things I wanted to say.

“We knew the situation by then, and it’s that kind of helplessness that actually helped me decide to go down the path of supporting Macmillan.

“I need people to have a better experience than our family had.”

Within a few years, Richard said his “amazing” sister, Teresa, received her breast cancer diagnosis, which resulted in a mastectomy and a “reasonable period of remission”.

By 2008, Richard said Teresa was devastated to learn that her cancer had come back in her lymph nodes initially, then it “spread very quickly” to other parts of her body too.

“My sister was in hospital and my brother-in-law knew the end was nigh, so I went to visit her,” Richard said. “Although she was out of it, I sat with her for an hour and we had time.

“I had a little bit more strength this time. So I told her what a good sister she’d been and that I was going to miss her.

“It was a better farewell than I had with my dad,” Richard added.

After a “couple” of years processing both deaths, Richard said he felt ready to “go out there and do something” to raise money for charity and he felt “very lucky” to meet a Macmillan fundraising manager through a corporate partnership at his work, who organised for him to be part of a Christmas present-wrapping event at a shopping centre in Southampton.

This progressed to charity walks with colleagues, until one particular work friend, Ewan Bell, suggested they walk Macmillan’s Jurassic Coast Mighty Hike – a “challenging” 22 miles along the hilly terrain from Weymouth to Corfe Castle.

Richard said: “It was a misty day and quite cold, but the abiding memory is that, if it hadn’t been for my walking partner, Ewan, I probably wouldn’t have finished because around mile 16, I got a twinge in my right calf.

“He very kindly carried my rucksack for most of the remaining time. Without his encouragement and a bit of paracetamol given to me at one of the checkpoints, I don’t think I would have made it to the end of my first Mighty Hike.

“It’s hard to describe that feeling of crossing the finishing line, especially because I was doing it for Macmillan. It felt really special,” he said.

Richard has since completed 12 more Mighty Hikes – including the South Coast Mighty Hike in Brighton, the Gower Peninsula in Swansea, the Rob Roy in the Scottish town of Callander, the Lake District, the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales, the Norfolk Coast hike and the Thames Path in Windsor – mostly with his walking partner, Ewan, and sometimes completing the same route a second time.

Richard said it can take him up to eight hours to complete the usual 26 miles, but there was one particular occasion where he got “the biggest blister” of his life and it took him 13 hours.

As for his training, Richard said: “I don’t want to sound conceited but I’m a walker. I’m just constantly training because I’m just always walking.”

Richard said he’s “hoping” to never have to stop walking and raising money for charity, but he’d “love” to get to 20 in total.

To date, Richard has raised a total of £21,174.72 for Macmillan, for which he said he feels “proud” to have done his part.

Richard said: “I don’t see it as a big deal. I want to do it and I’m pleased I’ve raised that much.

According to Macmillan, £161 could provide emotional support to one person living with cancer for around eight weeks through support sessions with the charity’s buddies, while £1,437 could pay for a Macmillan nurse for one week.

On his motivation to share his story, Richard said: “There might be 1,000 people on a Mighty Hike and they’re all like-minded people. And that just happens so rarely – to be with that many people who have the same aims as you do.

“So if I can inspire just five more people, then it would have been worthwhile.

“And if it spreads the word and it helps to raise more money, then that’s going to get a huge thumbs up for me,” he said.

For more information about Macmillan’s Mighty Hikes, visit their website: https://www.macmillan.org.uk/mighty-hikes