Gym buddies give dad’s cancer fight £7,000 boost
GYM buddies of a young dad diagnosed with lung cancer united to raise a whopping £7,000 for research into the disease.
Danny Whitworth, 36, has been a member of Forever Strong gym in Kingsway for two years.
So when the amateur boxing coach was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year, gym owner and fitness instructor Gary Rothwell, fellow member Amr Nazir and other gym members wanted to do something to help.
To raise awareness and funds for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, they organised a rowing marathon and other events to be held at the gym in Moss Mill Industrial Estate on Woodbine Street East.
And the culmination of the four-hour event saw gym member Amr have his head and body waxed.
The event - which had a target to raise £5,000 managed to collect £7,882, which with gift aid topped £9,300.
Gary said: “This was an incredible effort. It only had two or so weeks of planning and everybody at the gym rose to the challenge we set to help a gym member and raise awareness of lung cancer. It just shows the special community we have at the gym and it is amazing to see everybody dig deep for one another.
“At the start of the year I said I wanted the gym to raise £18k for charity in 2018. And we are half way there with our first event.
“I’d just like to thank everyone who contributed - especially Amr who definitely went the extra mile on the day.”
Manchester United fan Danny, a dad to two teenage daughters, was diagnosed with a malignant tumour after struggling with what he thought was a severe chest infection from September last year.
Unable to shake it off, and after a number of trips to the doctors, a CT scan discovered fluid in his left lung, partial collapse of his left lung and swollen lymph node glands in and around the lung. He is currently undergoing treatment at the Christie.
After the event, Danny said: “I’ve never seen so many people effortlessly pull in the same direction, it is genuinely amazing. The support and involvement of everyone in Forever Strong is overwhelming - thank you to every single one of you.”