Family take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks in honour of Darren Mason
Monday 13 June 2022
Andrew Mason, from Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, explains how the family took on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in memory of his brother.
In April 2022, we lost my brother Darren Mason to bowel cancer at the young age of 40. Darren was an incredible fiancé, and an amazing father to his 11-year-old daughter.
Darren is the latest family member to pass away from the disease after our dad, cousin, auntie, and grandad. You see, many of my family have Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP). A genetic condition where a person can develop an excessive amount of cells on their colon. If left unrecognised and untreated, there is a high likelihood that they will develop bowel cancer. Those in our family who also have the condition have been receiving or have received treatment.
My brother always had heart and courage. We are really close as a family so we want to do the challenge in memory of Darren but also to support research into the condition for our kids, as Darren's daughter has also got the gene. As a family we are determined to stay positive and do something worthwhile in their memory.
With different family members having different fitness levels, the Yorkshire Three Peaks will not be an easy task but we are all determined to complete it for Darren. This will take place on the 16th July 2022.
My brother Chris and I made a promise to our mum to keep Darren’s memory alive for his daughter - our niece - that we will keep going and raise awareness, as this is just our first event.
We are also planning the UK Three Peaks Challenge for next year and hoping we can continue to help Bowel Cancer UK as far as we can. There will be more things we plan to do, such as silly Tik Tok videos, (although, as we are a bit old they may be a bit cringe), car boot sales and we’ve already had a few volunteer to brave the shave.
- Contribute to the family’s JustGiving here
- Find out more about genetic risk factors
- If you've been inspired by Andrew's fundraising and would like to support us through your own fundraiser, please find out more here
