Jo & Kevin
At the start of 2008 Jo’s dad, Kevin Hesketh, had just started to enjoy a happy retirement with his wife of over 40 years, Joan, when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Although he was lucky enough to be able to have treatment, it quickly became clear that the outlook for Kevin was not good. He managed to go to Jo’s wedding and to meet his granddaughter, who was born the following year. Sadly, Kevin passed away in November 2009, almost two years after his diagnosis.
“Dad was a joy to be around. He radiated happiness, was exceptionally energetic – almost childlike in his love of life – and he had an incredible ability to light up any room. He was always smiling, always positive and was loved by so many people.
I can’t remember what stage Dad’s cancer was at the time of diagnosis, but I do remember feeling positive that he was told that he could have treatment. He went to surgery very quickly, having the Whipple’s procedure. We thought that he was doing well. His blood counts seemed to be suggesting some improvement and he even managed to go on a cruise with my mum and one of my sisters.”
He wanted to be at my wedding
“In the summer of that year, my (now) husband proposed and we planned our wedding quickly. We wanted Dad to be there, but we weren’t sure at that point how long he had. Our wedding was set for December, but soon after the cruise, Dad’s health quickly started to regress. It was confirmed that the cancer was in his lymph nodes and more treatment was necessary. We went through the next three or four months not knowing whether he would make the wedding or not, but he just kept saying, “I’m determined to be there”.
Dad walked me down the aisle and joined in every part of our wedding day. There’s a photograph of us hugging each other that day, and when I look at it I realise how much we relied on hope. Hope that he would react well to the treatment and get better, hope that he would make it to our wedding day, hope that he would be able to enjoy some of his retirement with Mum and hope that we didn’t have to imagine life without him. Pancreatic Cancer UK’s campaign that people need ‘More than Hope’ resonates with me so much, because we kept thinking that hope was the only thing that we had.”
He met his granddaughter too
“It was soon after Christmas that I found out that I was pregnant with our first child. I remember that Dad hadn’t been very well and we drove to Manchester to visit and tell everyone the news. We called the baby ‘Mini’ before she was born, as we didn’t know what we were having, and he used to write emails and send messages to me about ‘Mini’, telling me how excited he was.
Dad went through a very difficult time in 2009. He suffered lots of things, including more chemotherapy and a perforated bowel, and we didn’t know how long he had.
On the day after my daughter was born, he made the journey from Manchester to Winchester with help from my mum and sisters and came into the hospital to meet her. I’ve got photographs of him holding her and sitting by my bed, holding my hand.”
I can't tell you how much ‘More Than Hope’ resonates with me. People have to have more than that.
Running the marathon inspired by my Dad’s own training
“While I’m thankful for the precious moments that we shared with Dad, I’m determined that other families shouldn’t have to rely on hope when a loved one is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Now, I’m running the TCS London Marathon, an event inspired by memories of my dad training for a marathon of his own and his great interest in sport.
When I realised that 2025 would be the first year that Pancreatic Cancer UK would be the official charity partner of the TCS London Marathon, I thought “this has to be the year” and entered the ballot.
When I got the notification in June saying that I had been awarded a ballot place, I’ll be honest – I was in shock for a while, but then it just felt like everything fell into place and I contacted Pancreatic Cancer UK to see if I could be part of their team. The marathon journey began with my dad, and now I am able to do it whilst supporting a charity that means so much to me because of him.”
It’s a huge challenge, but it’s worth it
“I’m relatively new to running. I’ve done a handful of 5Ks and before getting the ballot result, I’ve done two 10Ks in my life, the last one being almost fourteen years ago. So I am really starting from scratch. I have a determination to do this that I’ve never felt before, and I genuinely think it’s because of the connection to the charity. I think the event as a whole is something that’s incredibly exciting. Having said that, I am also nervous and quite scared, as I’m sure anybody would be taking on a first marathon, but equally I feel very privileged to have this opportunity.
My family, friends and colleagues have been very supportive and I feel sure that Dad will be in my head the whole day, encouraging me to keep going. But an unexpected benefit has been the group of runners and staff who are also part of the Pancreatic Cancer UK team. We share a sad but very special bond in our grief and the time that we have been able to spend together, or swap messages, has been really uplifting and encouraging. It’s a special group of people.
I really hope that things go well on the day. It is an enormous challenge but, ultimately, if I have to crawl round to get to that finish line, I am doing that! Running the London Marathon isn’t about achieving a time for me, it is about so much more than a personal achievement. It’s about doing something to stop the pain for someone else and to find a way to enable early detection and treatment of this terrible disease. To give people with pancreatic cancer and their families ‘more than hope’.
Raising awareness of pancreatic cancer, as well as investing in early detection, is so important. Being the official charity partner of the TCS London Marathon gives us a great opportunity to do this… there are not many stages bigger than that to raise awareness!”