Andy Huddlestone, Christie supporter

Andy Huddlestone first started supporting The Christie charity in support of his best friend Brad Farrell. Brad was diagnosed with bone cancer in his knee in March 2022 was referred to The Christie for treatment.

Brad had a 10-week course of chemotherapy at The Christie and this managed to shrink the tumour so he could also have surgery. After hearing Brad speak so positively about his treatment at The Christie, Andy was determined to do something to raise money for The Christie charity.

Andy decided to take on a mammoth running challenge – 50 miles in a day, from Runcorn to Brad’s family home in Conwy. His fundraising efforts in support of his friend were so popular that he managed to raise nearly £35,000 in his first week of fundraising.

The day of the challenge finally came on a Friday morning in July 2022, with Andy starting his run at 3am. It was a warm and dry day, and Andy had lots of friends meeting him at different points in the challenge to help spur him on.

Towards the second half of the run, fatigue started to set in. Andy said it was a task of getting to the finish at this point by any means possible. With just over 6 miles (10k) to go, the sight of Conwy Castle came into view, with about 30 people waiting to cheer Andy on. Waving Christie banners, t-shirts and balloons, Andy said the scene was a fantastic sight.

The end of the race was a downhill sprint all the way to Brad’s family home. Andy crossed the finish line after 8 hours of running, an amazing effort. He said that the best thing was checking his fundraising total throughout the day to see it flying up – with people who had already donated donating again.

“Brad, who is currently undergoing treatment at The Christie, was on call throughout the day offering encouragement and support. It meant the world to him and to the other people this could help out who are at The Christie makes it all worthwhile.
“The challenges are never going to be easy, but I imagine some of the pain and heartache some patients have to go through on a day-to-day basis, an 8-hour run is nothing!”

  - Andy Huddlestone, Christie supporter

Andy’s running challenge raised just short of an incredible £44,500! Not willing to stop there, he’s hoping to get into the London Marathon next year to raise more funds for The Christie.

Would you like to fundraise for The Christie charity? Speak to the charity team on 0161 446 3988 or see how you can get involved with fundraising.