Swansea sisters raise £6k to help in the fight against cancer
Rachel and Kirsty Thomas took on the marathon miles of their dad after he was diagnosed with the disease last year.
Last updated 11th Aug 2022
The South West Wales Cancer Centre, based in Singleton Hospital provides over 45,000 treatments annually. It cares for patients from across South West Wales who would normally be cared for in other health boards.
The GOLAU Cancer Foundation is the fundraising charity for the centre providing funding for new equipment, training and research.
When sisters Rachel and Kirsty's dad, Andrew 'Panda' Thomas, was diagnosed with cancer - they knew they wanted to help.
Andrew, who has served for 43 years with South Wales Police and several National Policing agencies, has always looked after his fitness. He is an avid runner and triathlete. He was signed up for the London Marathon in October 2021- when he was told he had the disease.
Rachel and Kirsty decided to take on their father’s miles and create a fundraiser over several weeks. They covered the equivalent of four marathons - around 105 miles within a month. Their aim was to raise £250, but this week - they handed over a cheque for £6,000 to the team at Singleton Hospital. As the total kept going up, so did the miles, with over 160 run in total, over the month.
Rachel told us: "Obviously dad's diagnosis came as such as a massive shock to the family. We decided to do the fundraiser as it just felt like something that we could do to sort of help. Yes raise money, but also awareness too for the chemo unit at Singleton Hospital. We cannot believe the generosity of everybody who's donated. That's from friends, family, work colleagues. The team at Gorseinon Rugby Club, where Dad's played for years. Special shout outs must go to Andrew Gazzi, who's made a personal donation of £1000 to get that target right the way up. And we're just really grateful to everyone who's dug deep and donated."
Kirsty serves alongside her dad at South Wales Police and says it's been really touching to see the donations roll in. "You feel a little bit helpless when there's something going on and because Dad has set himself at the challenge of the London Marathon, it was almost sort of supporting him in that way as well, saying right! We'll take the miles on for you. And I think everyone's donations were just to show how much he's liked, how he's respected and everyone was so generous. And, I mean, we're massively grateful for the care that dad was given by the unit as well as his oncologist Steve Kihara and the whole team at Singleton Hospital have been fantastic."