Bittersweet success for sisters (From Knutsford Guardian)
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Bittersweet success for sisters
3:10pm Saturday 30th June 2012 in News
By David Morgan
Race for Life girls, front, Jessie, nine and Alice Page, 12, and friends Lilymay Hassall, Emily Boom and Melissa Goodchild, all aged 12 r1227215
TWO sisters who lost their dad to cancer a few months ago took part in the Race for Life in his memory at the weekend.
Jessie and Alice Page, of Mill Lane, Goostrey, entered the event to help other people battling the disease.
Their dad Tim, a non-smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer in July last year, and died on February 16 at the age of 42.
Alice, 12, completed the five-kilometre challenge at Tatton Park on Saturday in 43 minutes with seven school friends from Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School.
The next day, Jessie, nine, who attends Goostrey Primary School, completed the race in 41 minutes at Prestwold Hall, Loughborough, with eight of her dad’s friends.
Tim’s widow Julie said: “We learned to deal with his death as well as we could.
“This was a good opportunity for them to do something positive. Their dad wanted them to carry on having fun and doing good things.”
Jessie and Alice hoped to raise £200, and smashed their fundraising target 10 times over by raising £2,155, which will go to Cancer Research UK.
About 625,000 women took part in 240 Race for Life events across the country, including 2,400 runners at Tatton Park.
Since Race for Life started £457 million has been raised to help people with all kinds of cancer.
Julie said: “Tim was an intelligent man, full of fun and energy. He would have loved us doing this.
“His philosophy was that we shouldn’t suffer too much. The girls have coped really well with the support of our friends and family.”
Julie, Jessie and Alice also had a bittersweet moment when they saw Elbow’s concert at Jodrell Bank on Saturday.
The Bury band’s last song, accompanied by fireworks, was One Day Like This, which was played at Tim’s funeral at St Luke’s Church in Goostrey on February 28.
Julie said: “The whole weekend was a big tribute to Tim. It was very emotional.”
To pledge a donation to Jessie and Alice visit racefor lifesponsorme.org/jessiepage.
