I completed the London Marathon for the second time this past weekend! 26.2 miles ran, around £1,400 raised for St Johns Hospice so far, and quite a lot of blisters too!

St John’s Hospice is a local charity which has been providing free palliative care to patients with life shortening conditions since 1986. Their services cover North Lancashire and the South Lakes.

It costs over £5.1 million a year to run the hospice with only around a third of this amount provided by government funding. The remaining two thirds must be raised through events, community donations, grants & legacies.

St John’s first opened their doors in 1986 and for over 35 years those doors have never closed – day or night. They have provided hands-on nursing care for local people facing the most challenging time of their lives; they have supported their families and friends and they have walked alongside them during their bereavement journey, for as long as they have needed.

Having seen the amazing support they have given people I have cared about, I thought I would try and do a little something to help them carry on serving our community.

Thank you so much to all of you that have chipped in so far, knowing that I was making a difference for people receiving palliative care is what kept me going. It was hard, it rained a lot, and I regretted doing no training whatsoever… but despite not training it only took me 10 minutes longer than two years ago!

Congratulations to everyone else locally that got across that finish line, we did it together! If you feel able to chip in, you can still do so at: https://2023tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/cat-smith