A student nurse is in training for a half marathon with her two pet dogs in aid of the hospice that cared for her animal-loving mum in her final days.
Mother-of-two Maddie Beattie, who lives in Bontnewydd, near Caernarfon, is determined to conquer the 13-mile feat to raise money for St David’s Hospice in Llandudno which her lovingly nursed her mother Lorraine through the end stages of a heartbreaking battle with cancer of the oesophagus.
She aims to do the run on January 16, which would have been her mum's birthday, and will follow a route along a cycle track from Bontnewydd to a finishing point just beyond Penygroes.
Maddie will be accompanied every step of the way by her training partners – her four-year-old Beddlington terrier called Bella and her two-year-old Jack Russell, Bobby.
The 37-year is combining her rigorous daily training regime with the demands of being a mum of two, completing a crucial final year dissertation for her nursing studies, and holding down her part time job as a care assistant at Pendine Park’s Bryn Seiont Newydd dementia care home in Caernarfon.
She said: “My mum died 13 year ago on January 13 and a half a marathon is just over 13 miles so it seemed an apt tribute - 13 miles for 13 years.
“I’m so grateful to have such support from family, friends and work colleagues at Bryn Seiont. Life is pretty hectic at the moment, but I’ve made it my goal to do this and I’m committed to making it to the finishing post.
“I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a long time as a thank you to the hospice which was so good with mum.“
Lorraine was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus after finding a lump in her neck. Originally clinicians gave her two years but the tumour proved more aggressive than they thought and she died, aged just 51, six months after her diagnosis.
Maddie said: “Mum and I were always close. We lived in Llanrwst. We never had any money but she always had time for everyone. She brought up my brothers, Alex and Linden, and I as a single parent but she was always there for us.
“She loved animals. We always had pet dogs and cats, she was a keen horse rider and a real Dr Doolittle in her way. I remember one time I came home and there were baby ducklings in the bath. She had fostered them because they lost their mother. Another time she reared some orphaned wild baby rabbits. That’s why I want to take my two dogs with me on the run, mum would have loved to see the three of us doing this.”
To support Maddie visit her appeal page at: https://m.facebook.com/nt/screen/?params=%7B%22fundraiser_campaign_id%22%3A690279504946100%7D&path=%2Ffundraiser%2F&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inyourarea.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fcaernarfon-maddies-half-marathon-run-to-remember-mum%2Famp%2F&_rdr
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