A HUSBAND who lost his wife to a rare cancer at the tender age of 24 walked from London to Chelmsford on the anniversary of her death to raise cash in her memory.
Wayne Dixon, 35, of Stansted Close, Chelmsford, trudged 34 miles in the rain along with 15 family and friends to raise £800 for the goblet cell carcinoid cancer (GCCC) charity for his late wife Danielle.
"Seeing the church at Hylands Park and knowing we had to walk up the hill, we knew we were close to home but not there yet," said Wayne, describing the toughest bit of the 11-hour, 45-minute challenge.
"If you google goblet cell carcinoid cancer there's hardly any information so I'm really trying to raise awareness of the disease for government funding, as well as raising a bit of money too."
Indeed, Wayne's Facebook page, which has attracted 1,600 likes, is fifth in the results on Google, and he has even set up his own charity and website www.helpthefight.co.uk
After nine years of unsolved symptoms that many doctors mistook for irritable bowel syndrome, Danielle was finally diagnosed with the aggressive form of the cancer, which usually starts in the appendix.
Commonly affecting people aged 50 to 60, its symptoms are incredibly hard to trace and it is believed she may have suffered from the undetected cancer since she was 13.
Despite being a fit and healthy mother-of-one, just fourteen months later Danielle lost her fight and died in September last year.
Wayne walked with his lifelong friend Mark Devine and thirteen others, including his mother, uncle and two cousins, to raise money towards a grand total of nearly £5,000 since he launched the not-for-profit organisation Help The Fight.
At the beginning of the month Wayne also organised an all-day music event and raised a further £325 to the cause.
All the money raised is donated to the NET Patient Foundation and the Royal Free Charity, which both specialise in research into GCCC.
When talking about Danielle, Wayne described his loss as incredibly hard, however with three loving children, William, 15, and Kayleigh, 8, from a previous relationship, and Jayme, 3, Wayne is not short of support.
When speaking about life as a single parent, Wayne added: "It is hard but you just have to get on with it. When I look at pictures of Danielle I only see happy and fun memories."
Wayne continues to raise money for his charity Help The Fight to fund much-needed research into the disease which took Danielle's life. To find out more see www.helpthefight.co.uk
