Bury-based cousins Lydia Makin and Georgie Mason are set to run the TCS London Mini Marathon on Saturday 22 April in memory of Lydia’s dad, Tom Makin. Tom died from osteosarcoma, a rare form of sarcoma cancer, when Lydia was just three years old.
Having being treated for cancer twice before, Tom’s sarcoma reoccurred in December 2018 and he sadly died in June 2019, aged just 29.
‘Tom was a Manchester City mad, music obsessed, stone island collector, dad to two beautiful daughters, aged just three and eight weeks old when he died, and the best friend to so many,’ says Tom’s wife, Kirsty.
‘Tom fought so hard during each cancer battle to beat the disease and wanted so much to be around to watch his girls grow up. Unfortunately, osteosarcoma is difficult to treat, and conventional treatment of this disease has not progressed in over 20 years. As a result of that many young adults, like Tom, are losing their lives to this awful cancer.”
Ahead of Saturday’s event, the girls penned a touching letter asking friends and family to donate what they can to their JustGiving page.
‘We are raising money for Sarcoma UK to help other people who have cancer like my Daddy,’ the letter says.
Since his death in 2019, Tom Makin’s friends and family have been tirelessly fundraising for Sarcoma UK in his memory. In 2021, friend Ben Bate ran the TCS London Marathon wearing a large bone costume to help raise awareness of sarcoma, and set a new Guinness World Record for Fastest Marathon Dressed as a Body Part (male runner), with a time of 03:49:14.
Ben ran with six other runners as part of ‘Tom’s Team’ including Tom’s wife, Kirsty. The runners raised over £100,000 collectively for Sarcoma UK in that year alone.
The bone costume makes a comeback this year, as Georgie’s dad Chris Mason is running the marathon with friend George Seton, who will be wearing the bone costume.
Best of luck to them and all taking back in this year’s TCS Mini Marathon and TCS London Marathon. Follow us on socials all day on Sunday for all of the excitement from London.
