Local Community Pulls Together for Miles for Marsland

We were proud to support the Brantham Running Club’s 24-hour Miles for Marslands run, where funds raised will support ongoing research efforts in the fight against bowel cancer.

In March 2018, local lad, Steve Marsland was diagnosed with stage 3C bowel cancer at the age of 33, having only had his first symptom just six weeks earlier. After going through twelve rounds of chemotherapy, five weeks of radiotherapy, major life changing surgery and a pelvic infection, he went into remission. Sadly, in November 2019, Steve was told that the cancer had returned, progressed to stage 4, and that he had a rare bowel cancer gene mutation called BRAF V600 making his cancer incurable.

Steve’s bravery inspired his wife Emma (a member of the BLC Running Club) to run both the 2020 (virtual) and 2021 London Marathons raising money for leading bowel cancer charities as well as raising awareness of the disease and its symptoms. The Marslands’ story has inspired the Club to organise a 24-hour run to help raise more funds for research into bowel cancer – the fourth most common cancer, but the second biggest killer with someone being diagnosed every 15 minutes. If bowel cancer is caught in the early stages there is a 90 per cent chance of a cure, but if the early symptoms are not recognised it can be significantly worse.

The Miles for Marsland event had over 76 runners and volunteers. Covering upward of 750 miles and raising over £7000.00!!!!