Marathon effort (From Penarth Times)

Marathon effort

A PENARTH resident whose mother was last year diagnosed with bowel cancer is to run a marathon to raise funds for Holme Tower, the Marie Curie Hospice in Penarth.

German-born Heike Verdon, aged 41, of Westbourne Road, is travelling back to her home country to run the Mittelrhein Marathon.

The sponsorship money she raises will help purchase a syringe driver for the hospice.

A syringe driver is a small, portable, battery-driven infusion pump used to administer pain control treatment and chemotherapy.

Heike, who has lived in Penarth for the past 20 years, has seen her mother make a full recovory from the disease.

But during her illness, although she visited her mother in Germany as often as she could, Heike was comforted by the knowledge that state-of-the-art equipment was being used in her treatment.

She now wants to ensure that cancer patients in her adopted country of Wales also have access to equipment that can make their treatment less intrusive.

Heike will be running in the Mittelrhein Marathon, which will take her along the Rhein River from Oberwesel to Koblenz past the Lorelei Rock.

This is the first time this marathon will be taking place, and approximately 8,000 runners will be taking part.

Heike has already completed the Cardiff half marathon twice and has been in training for a full marathon for the past year.

* To sponsor Heike and help raise money for desperately needed syringe drivers for Holme Tower (each one costs 900), log on to justgiving.com/heikeverdon or alternatively sponsor forms will be available from Holme Tower.

Heike would like to stress that every penny of sponsorship money will be going to Holme Tower, as all her travel expenses will be funded out of her own pocket.