A PETERSFIELD woman is heading to the Alps in a running bid to raise funds for a hospital service which saved her father’s life.
Jess Welborn will run across parts of Germany, Austria and Switzerland on October 7, having signed up the 3 Countries Marathon.
The 29-year-old is determined to help Portsmouth Hospitals Charity by raising funds for a Leonardo Mini laser which removes tumours. The good cause is close to her heart as her father, Colin, had life-saving robotic surgery at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham.
The retired Royal Navy officer, from Pulens Lane, needed treatment after being diagnosed with bladder cancer. The extreme precision of the Da Vinci keyhole surgery he underwent meant he was out of hospital and on the road to recovery in no time.
He said: “I feel quite privileged that I’ve still got all my faculties.
“Bladder cancer is the fifth most common and around 15,000 people are diagnosed with it every year. The only symptom I had was going to the loo and noticing the tiniest bit of blood in my pee.
“I went to the Swan Street Surgery and the locum asked me to go to QA that afternoon. The woman there stuck a camera in me and said ‘you and I are going to get to know each other very well during the next couple of years’ as she could see two tumours.”
He added: “They took out the prostate as a matter of course with the lymph nodes but now I’m feeling fitter and healthier by the day. I’m back in the swimming pool, working every day and I’ve got all my senses.”
Jess, a former student at The Petersfield School who now lives in London, has already raised more than half her £3,000 fundraising target. But she and Colin would love to smash that figure, especially as the machine will allow the hospital to save more lives.
Donations can be made by visiting the website at: www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/jess3countries