Family of 62-year-old Scarva woman who died of cancer run Belfast City Marathon in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support

Christina, or Tina as she was known, had been diagnosed in September 2021 with lung cancer and fought a brave battle for more than a year, supported by her family and the nurses of MacMillan Cancer Support.

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Sadly she passed away on October 12, last year just weeks before her 63rd birthday and her family were determined to give something back due to the exceptional care their mother received prior to her death.

They decided to enter a team of relay runners to Belfast City Marathon, with Tina’s eldest Richard Hammond (45), two of her daughters Lesley-Anne Hammond (26) and Stephanie Richardson (40), Lesley-Anne’s boyfriend, Ross Walker, and their cousin, Rachel McCracken. There is also another sister Kirsty who is 24 but she didn’t take part this time.

Richard said: “We as a family wanted to raise money for Macmillan after the recent passing of our mum, Christina Hammond, due to cancer. Our mum Christina, or more commonly known as Tina, was from Scarva and this is where she raised her family of four along with our dad, Ivan. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in September 2021 and fought bravely until 12th October 2022 when she unfortunately passed away.

"The Macmillan nurses helped us and our mum the entire time and always went one step further to do everything we needed which we are endlessly grateful for,” said Richard.

"All money raised was through sponsorship for the marathon. We could not have predicted raising such a large amount of money and we are truly amazed at the generosity and compassion everybody who donated has shown us. We cannot thank them all enough. We initially set out with a target of £1000 on the Facebook fundraiser page, this target reached a total of £2010, and the overall amount raised was a mind blowing £9100.

"Big thanks especially to our sponsors ‘Express Distribution Services’ Craigavon. ‘Scruples hairdressers’ Banbridge. ‘Sparks in Colour’ and ‘Whitehaven office supplies’ Portadown. These funds will go to help MacMillan support lots of other families living with the terrible disease, just as they did with ours.

"None of us were ‘runners’ proceeding the marathon and with a bit of training we all completed our stages of the relay. When we all met at the finish line in Ormeau Park, we had a great sense of relief and achievement.”

Both Richard and Stephanie used the Park Runs at Craigavon City Park to train and are still going most Saturdays. “I also am enjoying it so much that I run 3-4 times a week and am seriously considering joining a running club.”