Tim Motley, 72, from Petham ran the Folkestone half marathon with incurable mesothelioma. He raised almost £3,000 for the charity whose nurse cares for him.
Tim Motley, a 72-year-old grandad from Petham who has incurable lung cancer, has run the Folkestone half marathon and raised almost £3,000 for Mesothelioma UK.
Tim, a former gas engineer, was diagnosed last year with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung caused by exposure to asbestos. It cannot be cured. He ran the race alongside his wife Micky, and East Kent Hospitals, whose staff help care for him, shared his story for Lung Cancer Awareness Month this November.
“I do feel proud that I was able to finish the half marathon and raise almost £3,000 for Mesothelioma UK,” Tim said. “I hope it can dispel some of the negativity around the diagnosis and show you can still do the things you want to do.”
How a service at Canterbury Cathedral started it
The idea came from a service at Canterbury Cathedral. The couple attended the London Asbestos Support Awareness Group’s Mesothelioma Day service there this year.
“We do walk a lot, which helps keep us fit, but I’ve never been a runner,” Tim said.
“But we attended the London Asbestos Support Awareness Group Mesothelioma Day service at Canterbury Cathedral this year and met a woman who had lost her dad to mesothelioma.
“She was running the half marathon for Mesothelioma UK and my wife, who has done marathons before, thought she would go for it.
“I thought as I had been looked after by the charity I would try and do my best to give something back, and if I didn’t do it now, I never would!”
Treadmill training and an uphill last mile
Tim trained on a treadmill at home, then moved outside to a mix of running and walking. The race itself was hard going.
“It was quite difficult, to be honest,” he said. “I was never looking to break a record, I just wanted to finish and that’s what I did.
“We had so much support, which was absolutely incredible, and that spurred me on.
“The last mile was all uphill, which for runners probably wasn’t a problem but I found it really tough.
“I do suffer with shortness of breath anyway so I just couldn’t maintain a steady pace and had to walk to catch my breath.”
Toni Fleming, a Mesothelioma UK nurse based at East Kent Hospitals who helps care for Tim, was there to cheer the couple on. “I am in awe of Tim and his achievement in completing the half marathon and helping raise funds and awareness of this terrible disease,” she said. “He is truly an inspiration.”
From chest pain to diagnosis
Tim, who has a son and one granddaughter, went to his GP with pain in the left side of his chest. At first it was thought to be inflammation. When it got worse he was sent for an x-ray, which showed fluid on his lung.
The fluid was drained but came back, and a biopsy found the cancer. Tim then had surgery to remove the fluid, during which surgeons used sterile talc mixed with saline to stop it building up again.
“I had never heard of mesothelioma, but we worked out I was probably exposed to asbestos 50 years ago,” he said.
“Health and safety was quite relaxed in the 1970s, there wasn’t much training, and people did things they would never do now.
“But once they knew what it was and I had the talc procedure, it has all been pretty good. The cancer is still there, they can’t get rid of it, but I have scans every three months and for the moment it is stable.”
Petham village hall joins in
Tim’s run set his neighbours fundraising too. People in Petham held an event at the village hall, and the money was split between the British Heart Foundation and Mesothelioma UK, with £500 going to each. According to the trust, many of those who took part had never heard of the disease before.
What it means for you
Tim’s diagnosis began with a visit to his GP about chest pain that would not go away, and he says he had never heard of mesothelioma until then. Patients from the Canterbury area with the disease can be supported by Mesothelioma UK nurses based at East Kent Hospitals, the trust that runs the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, as Toni Fleming supports Tim.
Mesothelioma UK, the charity Tim ran for, is at mesothelioma.uk.com.
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