Brave Josh to start Manchester’s weekend of running

Five year old Josh Cubbin is leading the way for his family to raise money for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, which saved his life after he was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer.

Josh will be a special guest race starter for the mini wave of the Junior and Mini Great Manchester Run taking place on Saturday 21st May at Sportcity. The weekend will be a family affair as Josh’s parents Jane and Ian will also be taking on Europe’s biggest 10K, the Great Manchester Run on Sunday 22^nd May.

Josh was just three years old when he was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer known as Burkitts Lymphoma. For four months Josh’s home was Ward 84, the regional centre for the treatment of childhood cancer at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. Thanks to the incredible care and treatment from the staff on Ward 84, Josh was one of the lucky ones - he will have been in remission two years in July and is doing really well.

Jane comments:

“We will always be grateful to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital for the care they gave Josh.  It’s hard to put into words the level of respect and admiration I have for the incredible staff of Ward 84. Over the past year we have taken part in a number of fundraising activities in support of Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity, and taking part in the Great Manchester Run weekend is just another way of saying thank you.

Josh is really excited about being an official race starter for the Junior and Mini Great Manchester Run.  Our family will have a lot of fun training for the events.”

Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity are the nominated Charity for this year’s run and the family want to encourage as many people as possible to sign up to the adult and junior events to support RMCH Charity.

Hannah Thomas, Events Manager for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity added:

“We are delighted that the Cubbin family are coming together to take part in Manchester’s biggest weekend of sport for us. Josh is a lovely and inspirational little boy and we can’t wait to see him cross the finish line on the day!

This year we want to see as many people as possible at all three runs wearing Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity green t-shirts. It’s not too late to join Team Humphrey, don your green shirt and support our charity at the Junior & Mini and Great Manchester Run.  People can sign up at www.greatrun.org and tick to run for us.  Any adults who would like a Charity place in the run can visit http://www.rmchcharity.org.uk/events for more information”

The Mini Run is for children aged 3-8.  Parents may accompany Mini runners. The Junior event is for children aged 9-15.