Harry ran 30 miles in 30 days as his granddad was cared for by St Catherine’s

A schoolboy ran a mile for every day that his beloved granddad was cared for at St Catherine’s Hospice, to raise funds for the charity.

Eleven-year-old Harry Cross, from Whittle-le-Woods, ran 30 miles in 30 days whilst his grandad Stephen Whittle was being cared for in the Lostock Hall hospice’s inpatient unit.

The Holy Cross High School pupil said: “I really enjoyed it – even when I had to run through Storm Brian! I just wanted to do something to help the hospice and make my grandad proud whilst he was being looked after.

“I wore a special t-shirt saying ‘Running for Granddad’ so everyone knew why I was doing it. I wanted to raise £200, and I made that in sponsorship in just the first few days! I got up to almost £800 in the end, which is brilliant.”

Stephen, from Clayton-le-Woods, sadly died at the hospice on November 4, aged 58, following a short battle with cancer.

His colleagues at Preston Prison heard about Harry’s fundraising efforts, and through the Prison Service Charity Fund donated an additional £900, bringing the total donated in Stephen’s memory to £1,680.

St Catherine’s head of fundraising, Emma Jacovelli, said: “What a determined young man Harry is – his unique fundraising idea not only helped to generate an incredible amount of money for the hospice, but also helped to raise awareness of the charity amongst his family and friends.

“We’re incredibly grateful that Harry went to such lengths for us – running 30 miles over 30 days and in some truly treacherous weather conditions! It’s people like Harry who enable us to continue providing specialist end-of-life care to local people now and in the future. We’d like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Harry, as well as Stephen’s workmates, for their amazing support.”

To sponsor Harry, please click here.

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