Six year old Olly Doxford is raising money for Newcastle Hospitals NHS Charity by running 66 miles throughout June and July.
Olly sadly lost his Grandad Paul to bowel cancer on the 27 May and wanted to make sure his Grandad’s wish of raising money for Ward 36 at The Freeman Hospital came true.
Paul, who was a patient on the ward, received excellent care from the doctors and nurses and always spoke of how grateful he was. His wish was to donate money or essential equipment to the ward as a way of saying thank you for the care he received.
He asked for donations to the ward to be given at his funeral in lieu of flowers, however due to COVID-19 and the rules around social distancing, it was not possible for all of his friends and family to attend the funeral as planned.
To make sure his Grandad’s wish came true, Olly set about thinking of how he could help raise the money for the ward himself and set himself a challenge of running 66 miles (the age of his grandad Paul when he passed away), between Monday 8th June and 31st July.
Olly has run almost every day since the start of his challenge and hasn’t let the unpredictable English weather put him off. Over half way through the challenge now, he has raised almost £3,000 for Ward 36 at the Freeman Hospital. He has far supposed his original target of £300.
Olly’s Mum Melissa said: “We are so proud of Olly, it has been a strange and difficult year for him being home-schooled for the last few months, becoming a big brother in February and losing his grandad, he has handled everything so well and I love seeing him so determined to do something for an amazing cause!”
Olly’s challenge is set to end of the 31st July, if you would like to find out more or make a donation please visit his Just Giving page.
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Charity helps to make a positive difference – whether that’s funding pioneering research; supporting the development and wellbeing of staff; providing state of the art medical equipment and technology; or working in partnership to improve patient outcomes. The charity supports Newcastle Hospitals to improve the experience of the our patients. Every penny raised is spent locally to help improve the health and wellbeing of the region and beyond.
