Mountain Ash resident Gareth Evans will be undertaking the mighty London Marathon this Sunday 27th of April to raise money and awareness for Winston’s Wish, the UK’s first children and young people’s bereavement charity.
The charity is a cause close to his heart after personally experiencing childhood bereavement when his dad sadly died when he was just 14 years old.
Gareth explains…..
“My father died in 2005 after a period of illness that lasted 4 years. At the time I was 14, my brother was 12 and my sister only 9 years-old. From the age of 10 to the age of 14 my life was spent largely visiting hospitals to see him, and in the late stages, a care home, where he ultimately passed away.”
Sadly, Gareth’s story is not unique, estimates suggest that every 20 minutes, a young person is told their parent has died however that figure doesn’t equate the countless children and young adults who are navigating the death of a friend, sibling, grandparent or another significant individual in their lives.
Last year, Winston’s Wish supported and directly impacted the lives of more than 80,000 bereaved children and young people, up to the age of 25. The charity also provides support and advice to the adults around these young people who are growing up grieving including education professionals.
Gareth was keen to raise awareness and money for the charity and applied to run the London Marathon for Winston’s Wish. He has already raised nearly £5,000 for the charity ahead of his London Marathon appearance on the 27th of April.
He says….
“As a child, I used to run competitively and won many junior athletics events. My father was incredibly proud of this and when I would visit the hospital, nurses would approach me before I got to the ward and would tell me they had heard about a race I’d won that week, he would tell anyone who would be willing to listen! After his death, I stopped running as I’d lost interest.”
Gareth knows all too well how important it is for children and young whose lived have been turned upside down by bereavement have access to tailored support.
“At the time of my dad’s illness and death, myself, my brother or sister received no support from anybody, we received no support in the form of counselling, or dealing with the grief of this matter. I learned to deal with this myself and found my own coping mechanisms over the years.
Late in 2022 I had a brief period where my mental health deteriorated which resulted in me seeking assistance from the GP. Whilst speaking to them I mentioned all of the above to them and they compared my way of overcoming the death of my father as having a cut, which needed stitches but wasn’t stitched, so it would be fine most of the time until the scar was hit again and it would open far more easily than a stitched cut.
I found this comparison very useful to understand but it made me realise that not getting the support we should have had at that time has had real long-lasting effects not only for myself, but also my brother and sister too.”
This led Gareth to consider his own experiences, where he ultimately came across Winston’s Wish.
He says….
“I went home and thought about this matter for some time, which led to me carrying out research on the support that is available for children to deal with bereavement which was where I came across Winston’s Wish.
I found that they are an independent charity that rely on voluntary donations to support children and their families following the death of a parent, sibling or important person and since 1992, they have helped tens of thousands of bereaved children and young people.
I thought that I would love to be able to raise money, but more importantly, awareness for the charity by completing the London Marathon as a fitting tribute to my father’s love for my running.
I hope that that if there are children locally to me who have to go through the death of a parent, their family will be aware of Winston’s Wish as a result of remembering me running the London Marathon and ultimately those children could get some form of support as a result, which myself or my siblings never had. This would give me a huge amount of personal comfort.”
For further details and to follow Gareth’s progress, please visit his Just Giving page HERE.
