London Marathon: Denmead woman taking part in marathon in memory of her brother who died from pancreatic cancer

Jackie Goddard will be taking part in the London Marathon in memory of her brother, Billy Harbridge, who died ten years ago from pancreatic cancer.

The brother and sister were extremely close and since his death there has been a void in the family’s world.

She said: ‘You just learn to live with it. It never gets easier and you never get over it.’

The 64-year-old from Denmead said that due to her being 11 years older than him, she would take care of him when their mum had to work, and he adored her.

This year marks ten years since Billy died at the age of 42 after a private scan revealed that he had stage four pancreatic cancer which devastated teh family.

In 2011 Jackie had six stone and her brother encouraged her to start running with him and after a while, he wanted to do the Denmead 10k together which was then followed by the Great South Run.

Billy began struggling with, what he was told to be muscle strain, but after a few months of being in pain, he knew there was something wrong.

The doctors told him that he had to wait for the strain to recover and that there are a number of other patients who are a priority.

After getting upset with his mum, it was decided to do a private scan, which revealed the diagnosis and Billy’s family had to come to terms with the fact that their loved one was extremely unwell.

Billy got married in the April to his partner and he made a promise to his niece that he would make it to her wedding in the September, which he did, and he sadly died a week later.

Jackie will be running in her brother’s memory and she is hoping to raise as much money and awareness as possible to try and prevent others from going through what her brother did.

Pancreatic cancer is cancer within the pancreas which is an organ positioned in the top part of the tummy, and Pancreatic Cancer UK fund research and support those who are diagnosed with it.

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Jackie said: ‘As long as I get over both lines, start and finish, I am going to be proud of myself and it is also so that my grandchildren can see that if you want to do something outside of your comfort zone if you work hard enough, you will do it.

‘From the December to the June he was in so much pain, he was going through a lot and he could have probably had some better pain relief if it was found earlier.

‘He never got to his first anniversary with his wife, she has never looked at their wedding video because once he got diagnosed they never got round to watching it and has never been able to.

‘He will never be able to walk his daughters down the isle. All these big things he is going to so by highlighting symptoms and making people more aware because some of them are so random.’

She has currently raised approximately £1,000 and hopes to try for £5,000 – to donate click the link.