Two Time Cancer Survivor Takes on First Marathon After Chemotherapy

In 2009, Martin Webster would have laughed at the suggestion that he’d ever run a marathon. He was battling with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; the first cancer he survived with treatment at The Christie, having also been diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2019.

Now, 15 years after his first diagnosis, he is lacing up to take on his first marathon at the adidas Manchester Marathon in April.

“The Christie Charity helped me beat cancer; to show my appreciation to them, I decided that I wanted to do something big, to give something back and say thank you. I’m aiming to raise as much money as possible for this fantastic charity – I would love to raise over £1000”.

A man going for a run and giving a thumbs up in a charity t-shirt, against a snowy background.

Martin is proud to support The Christie and has been training hard for the event in April.

Before his diagnosis, Martin weighed 20 stone and did minimal exercise. His journey overcoming cancer spurred Martin to start running after the ‘all clear’ was given following treatment.

“I am now much more active than I ever was before. When I first started to exercise, it took a lot out of me, but the more I stuck with it, the more my fitness started to improve. I feel so much stronger now, not just physically but mentally too”.

“I’m proud to have completed my first half marathon in November last year. I managed to beat my target time of 1 hour 40 minutes and achieved 1 hour 34 minutes”.

A determined-looking man in a grey top running down a path with other runners behind him.

Martin spoke about the fantastic work that The Christie Charity do, and the importance of their research in particular:

“The research from The Christie Charity is vital as it helps to support finding cures for this horrible disease. With further research, they could potentially advance treatment even further and help even more people like me fight the disease”.

Alongside supporting The Christie Charity, Martin also said that he is running the adidas Manchester Marathon following a shift in his life outlook:

“I feel like I’ve been given another opportunity to live and I don’t want to waste it for another second! Before, I would have laughed at the suggestion of one day running a marathon. Now, I know that completing the adidas Manchester Marathon will give me a huge sense of achievement of how far I’ve come”.

“After seeing pictures and videos of last year’s adidas Manchester Marathon event on social media and how successful it was, I can’t wait to be a part of this year’s fantastic event”.

Thank you, Martin, for sharing your inspirational story!

You can support Martin’s JustGiving page here.