A student is to do the Great North Run this Sunday (Sept 13) in memory of his grandma.

Francis Wilkinson will be running for the MS Society after the disease claimed the life of his grandma, Susan Bolland, earlier this year and was also responsible for his uncle Philip Colley and great aunt Pauline Bolland passing away.

Susan lived in Almondbury, Crosland Moor and latterly Sycamore Park Care Home in Bradley before dying suddenly at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in February this year.

Francis, 20, who is currently on placement as part of his university degree in Newcastle, is taking part in the half marathon alongside two of his closest friends from school, Elliot Di Napoli and Ethan Tearne, who all met at King James School in Almondbury. This is the first run Francis has done.

His mum, Sharron Wilkinson, did the Great North Run a decade ago for Kirkwood Hospice and is the founder of Huddersfield community interest company Give…A Few Words which encourages people to write letters to lonely and isolated folk in Kirklees and Calderdale.

Francis said: “My grandma lived with Multiple Sclerosis and seeing the challenges she faced throughout her life showed me just how cruel this disease can be. She was an incredibly important person to me and losing her has left a huge gap in our family.”

Sharron said: “I was very emotional when Francis told me he was doing this a couple of months ago. Not only because he is new to running, but also that he’s undertaking this huge challenge on behalf of his grandma and my mum.

“I’m incredibly proud of him and his friends Elliot and Ethan who are also actively raising funds for causes which are close to their hearts and I’ll be there this Sunday to see them all at the finish line.”

Elliot is fundraising for Prostate Cancer Research while Ethan is running for Blood Cancer UK.

Ethan lost his grandad, Melvyn Tearne, to Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow, in May this year.

To sponsor Francis go to https://www.justgiving.com/page/francis-wilkinson-1

Elliot’s fundraising page is https://www.justgiving.com/page/elliot-di-napoli-1

Ethan’s is https://www.justgiving.com/page/ethan-tearne-1

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.