Siblings run Half Marathon for Hospice in memory of their Mum

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two runners in green vests smiling at the camera

Mike Purse, Mich Purse and Kate Patten will be joining thousands of runners taking part in this year’s TTP Cambridge Half Marathon on Sunday 8 March.

We are extremely grateful to them for running for Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, in memory of Judy Purse, who was cared for at the Inpatient Unit. Judy’s son Mike, from Barrington, kindly shared his motivation for taking part:

“Our fundraising page is called ‘Not Fast, Just Furious’! “That pretty much sums up my sister, Mich, myself and my cousin Kate, who are all running it in memory of mum.

She was always our biggest supporter for everything we did in life. It’s coming up to four years now since we lost her but to be honest, without the help of the Hospice, we would’ve been struggling a lot more than we are. So, everything we do now, while it’s in her memory is actually for them. For the hospice and the other families.

My Mum was fundraising for the Hospice, long before I even knew about the Charity as we’d lost lots of friends and family over the years. Many of them ended up going through the doors of a hospice. So, I just know how important that place was to her and then obviously we got to see it first-hand in the three and a half, four weeks that they cared for her.

We lost her on 1st March 2022, five days before my 40th birthday so it was tough. It was really tough. She was an amazing woman.

Hospice Experience

When she went in, we were adamant that she wasn’t going to pass away in a hospital. It’s not a dignified way for anybody to die, certainly when they know it’s coming. So, for us, it was really important to get her there [Arthur Rank Hospice] and get her comfortable. She could get the dignity there, they could look after her and they looked after us amazingly well too.

They really gave us all space to grieve what we knew was coming. It’s a really, really difficult thing to explain to somebody who hasn’t been through it. My birthday on 6th March is always emotional as we lost mum on 1st March so it’s always a tough one. I’m sure anyone in the same situation can feel that too.

Training

We’re surrounded by some amazing, generous people. Everybody sees us out running and training and they see my relentless social media campaign. I did a 20K training run yesterday and had a friend called Sarah help me for the first 10. It’s tough trying to fit it in with work and family life but other people have harder things to go through. So, for us to do this small thing, I think it’s a very small price to pay.”

Mike and his sister, Mich also ran for Judy in 2023 and 2024 – you can read more here.

To support Mike, Mich and Kate please visit their fundraising page: ‘Not Fast, Just Furious’ for Arthur Rank Hospice Charity is fundraising for Arthur Rank Hospice Charity

Or Mike’s page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/mike-purse-2