Father completes London marathon carrying a 20kg backpack to honor the memory of his son who died from cancer.
Ceri Menai-Davis completed the London Marathon carrying a 20kg backpack to honor the memory of his son, who passed away from cancer in 2021 at the age of six.
In an interview with LADbible, Menai-Davis shared that his son Hugh was diagnosed with cancer in 2020, and the strength Hugh showed during his treatment inspired him to take better care of his own health and led him to sign up for the London Marathon.
The father recalled how on August 27, 2021, he went for a run, and his wife took Hugh along in the car to watch. Menai-Davis will never forget his son shouting encouraging words during his training: “Come on, dad, come on, dad.”
Unfortunately, shortly after turning six, on August 30, Hugh had a relapse and passed away a few weeks later. In his final days, the boy encouraged his father to go ahead with his plans: “Go and do it, dad, go and do it, go run in London.”
Menai-Davis did what his son asked, and Hugh was buried with the medal his father earned from running the London Marathon. After the loss, the boy’s parents founded a charity called It’s Never You, reflecting on what else they could do to make their son proud.
“My wife and I started the charity It’s Never You because we felt completely isolated as parents of a child with cancer. Because, rightfully, the focus was on the child, but no one ever asked, ‘Are you okay as a parent?'”
This year marked Menai-Davis’ fourth participation in the London Marathon, and this time he ran the race carrying a 20kg backpack with the names of 450 children printed on it; at the center, was Hugh’s name, handwritten by the boy himself.
“I took on this challenge because Hugh weighed 20 kilograms when he was last hospitalized. The 20kg represents not only his weight but also the weight that childhood cancer carries for parents.”
In addition to the physical weight, the father shared the emotional weight of participating in the race: “In the last 50 meters, when I saw the finish line, I started to cry. David, my friend who walked with me, and I hugged 50 meters before the finish line. I became a little desperate, because now you feel so much when you’re doing this, and it’s just overwhelming when I see the finish line.”
This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
