This year, Spread a Smile will welcome our largest team of runners for the iconic London Marathon, all of whom are taking on the challenge to help raise vital funds for our work spreading smiles to seriously ill children and young people.
One of our runners, Richard Hearn, has a very special motivation for joining Team Smile and we spoke to Richard about how he came to get involved.
“I’m the Manager for Witham Town football club in Essex and about 18 months ago I met a young lad called Freddie. Freddie had been diagnosed with cancer and was going through treatment and some really tough times. His Mum, Charmaine, brought him along to training as he’s a huge football fan and even though he was going through weekly chemo, Freddie would come to training and for games whenever he could.
“I got to know Freddie and Charmaine really well and Freddie formed a close bond with my son Josh, who is a year older than him. Freddie is so brave and joins in with training as much as possible, supporting me and the team. He’s so inspiring and that motivated me to want to support him and give something back. When I mentioned it to Charmaine she told me about Spread a Smile and explained how important the charity has been to Freddie and the family and how much they have helped him.
“So, I reached out to the team at Spread a Smile and was lucky enough to get a London Marathon place. So far I’ve raised around £2,000 through my JustGiving page and training has been going pretty well. I got up to a half marathon at Christmas and although a few injuries have set me back a little, I’m determined to do it and Freddie is always in the back of my mind driving me on.
“I really wanted to do as much as possible for Freddie, so I also organised a fundraising event at our local golf club, to try and raise a bit more for Spread a Smile, a few other local charities and also to send Freddie and his family on a holiday. The event was a huge success with the local community really getting behind it and 330 tickets sold. In total we raised a huge amount from the event, donating £2,500 to Spread a Smile to help this brilliant charity spread smiles to even more seriously ill children and young people. Around 130 raffle prizes were donated for the raffle and auctions and we’re so grateful to everyone who supported us on the night, buying tickets, donating prizes and giving what they could. It really was incredible to see so many people coming together to support Freddie and his family.
“We were also lucky enough to be chosen as one of Eamonn Holmes’ Community Heroes and I was invited along with Charmaine and
Freddie on to GB News to be interviewed. It was incredible to meet Eamonn and co-host Ellie and share a bit about Freddie, his journey and the work of Spread a Smile. It was an amazing day.
“Having a boy the same age as Freddie really hits home when I think about what Freddie is going through. It’s so important to me to be able to make a difference to Freddie and help him get the support he needs. Our next aim is get Freddie back playing football and winning the league!”
A huge thank you to Richard for being such a brilliant supporter and raising so much to support Freddie and Spread a Smile’s working bringing joy and happiness to seriously ill children and young people like Freddie. Please click here to sponsor Richard for the London Marathon and good luck to Richard and all our amazing London Marathon runners and fundraisers for their dedication and support.
You can read Freddie’s story and find out how Spread a Smile has supported him and his family here.
Watch Richard, Charmaine and Freddie on GB News below.