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Oluwatobi Olobayo

Oluwatobi's Race for Life

Total raised

£290.00

+ £17.50 Gift Aid

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Edinburgh - Holyrood 10k 2018

Sun 24 Jun 2018

I lost both my parents to cancer, only 8 months apart. Let us beat cancer sooner!!!

In memory of

My dear Parents, Oba Michael Folorunsho Olobayo (1945-2016) & Olori Maria Bisi Olobayo (1952-2017)

My Story

Cancer is happening right now, which is why I'm taking part in a Race for Life 10k to raise money and save lives. If anyone had told me on the first day of January in 2016 that by the last day of January 2017, I'd be an orphan...I would have avoided the person like a plague. I would have told the person both my parents were doing great and not close to death, but that wasn't the case. My parents were such beautiful souls and wonderful couple. With 7 children and 8 grandchildren then (now 10), they felt blessed and I feel proud to have had them as my parents.They loved people genuinely and were greatly loved too. I am from a close-knitted family and even though we didn't have everything we wanted, we had what we needed and the most important things in life. We were happy, contented and grateful till cancer crept in. I have heard of cancer, read about it but I did not know the impact it had on the patients or their families. I wouldn't say I was ignorant, I just felt it would never come to us but I have never been so wrong. Cancer can get to anyone and anytime. It does not care about your age, race, religion, gender or how much you have in your bank account. According to research, 1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. That is very scary and gets me wondering what can we do to stop this or reduce the impact. My dad was diagnosed with cancer in January 2016 and by May 15th, he lost the battle. I wasn't expecting that as I had no clue it was that bad till few days before he passed. I was in denial after his death and never came out of it; and then July 2016, my mum had strange symptoms and before we knew it, she was diagnosed with cancer. How did this happen? Why should it happen? I had too many unanswered questions. After her diagnosis, everything happened so fast and on January 29th 2017, she lost the battle too to cancer. I was her main carer and went through every minute of the journey with her, unfortunately I couldn't share her pain with her. One of the hardest things to experience is to see a loved one in pain and you can do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to stop it. Dreadful, awful, broken, lost, shattered.... I still haven't found the word to describe how I felt. We fought so hard for both of them and they even fought harder, they were brave but at the end of the day...cancer won. Took two very important people in my life... How many more battles can we lose to this monstrous disease? How much longer do we loose hope when we hear its cancer because, we already know the outcome? How many are even not diagnosed before they die? I am Nigerian and so many times I have thought of how I can do something about cancer for my people back home, maybe I cannot directly but I believe that if we find a cure to this awful disease, it doesn't matter what part of the world, it will get to my people. One battle lost to cancer is a loss to us all. Research in cancer can go along way into finding the right cure sooner and faster so that our loved ones don't have their lives shortened by this dreadful and disease. So please support me as every single pound you donate makes a difference to Cancer Research UK’s groundbreaking work. Lets fight it together!!! I will participate in the cancer Race for Life 2017 (10km) to raise money for cancer research. I cannot promise to win the race (very far from it) but I can promise that starting it is a step closer to beating cancer...it doesn't matter if its a little step.. I believe it is one in the right direction. Thank you and God bless you as you donate!!! Donating through this page is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with Cancer Research UK.

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Total raised£290.00
Online£290.00
Offline£0.00

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