FATHER REPAYING CHARITIES WHO HELPED DAUGHTER IN CANCER BATTLE
A DAD whose 10-year-old daughter battled cancer took on a series of gruelling challenges after promising he would do something to give back to those who had helped her.
Tony Fitzmaurice’s daughter Maisy was diagnosed with stage four Ovarian Germ Cell Cancer back in 2019.
Months of chemotherapy and several operations later, Maisy was given the all clear.
But her battle inspired keen runner Tony to go to on to raise thousands of pounds for several charities.
Tony, a work-based learning assessor within Coleg Menai’s hospitality and catering department said: “During her sickness, many charities, foundations and people helped out with a number of different things to make our life easier. I made a promise to myself that I would do some kind of fundraising for the charities and foundations that helped Maisy out.”
Most recently Tony completed two challenges over the course of the same weekend, the Anglesey halfmarathon - which he completed after barely any sleep - and the Goggins 4x4x48 challenges.
This particular trial involved running four miles, every four hours over the course of 48 hours.
He said: “After finishing work on Friday, March 4, I started the first leg of the Goggins Challenge and ran 4.4 miles every 4 hours, not stopping until 4am on Sunday morning. I then went to Menai Bridge to run the half marathon.
“All of this was done after roughly two hours of sleep.”
Tony’s fundraising goals began back in March 2021 when he completed his first Goggins Challenge, raising £2,600 for Cancer Research. Since then he has gone on to complete the Liverpool Marathon, raising £920 for the Owen Mcveigh Foundation, with his latest challenge raising more than £560 for Alder Hey Children’s hospital. Overall he’s collected over £4,000.
“I’ve never been so physically and emotionally drained and I was in some tough situations whilst in the forces. But in my mind I kept thinking about why I was doing the challenge and I was saying to myself, ‘you don’t know what you are capable of until you push yourself past what you think are your limits’.”
His passion for running began as a result of 2020’s lockdown, Tony found himself enjoying his regular walk, which in time blossomed into a passion for running. This initial start helped him conquer his own diabetes, alongside losing six stone.
“It was from that point I knew I was in a place where I could start doing challenges to raise money for as many charities and foundations that helped during Maisy’s illness.”
Tony is now recovering from his latest win, though he doesn’t intend to stay that way for long as he’s already planning his next fundraising challenge.