Eleven year old walks 14 miles in memory of grandfather

Claire Rutherford, mother of Phoebe, 11 years old from Gosport explains why her daughter took on the challenge of walking 14 miles in memory of her grandfather.

My dad was 64 years old when he was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in May 2020. He’d experienced some symptoms including pain in his tummy, change in bowel habits, bloating and some blood in stool.

In June 2020 my father had an operation to remove the tumour from his bowel. He also started chemotherapy which caused his hair to fall out. Phoebe said it made him look a bit funny like Uncle Fester from the Addams family. However the cancer was too far gone and we sadly lost him on 20 May 2021.

My daughter, who is 11 years old, decided she wanted to raise some money for bowel cancer in memory of her beloved granddad. So she decided to walk fourteen miles in one day!

We picked the weekend after the first anniversary of his death, on 21 May 2022. It was a lovely day, nice and sunny and my husband, Phoebe and I walked the 14 miles in four hours and forty three minutes.

Phoebe comments: “I wanted to raise as much as I could to help other people. My grandad, my mum’s dad died and I don’t want other people to.”

I’m incredibly proud of Phoebe and so far she has raised an incredible £382.

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