Running the odd mile…to help beat cancer
Mark Thornberry has been an athlete all his life, and a distance runner for five years.
But he was forced to pull out of Grand Union Canal Race, the oldest ultra in Great Britain, after he was diagnosed at age 57 with terminal liver cancer.

As he has cirrhosis (liver disease) for 12 years, Mark is regularly scanned. Cancer was detected in the beginning of May 2017. He was devastated when he received a terminal diagnosis at the end of June.
Suddenly it was hard to make plans for the future. Mark had to put his sales job on hold, as his daily routine was determined by treatment regimes.
“I could sit around and moan about it, or I could do something positive,” Mark says.
Instead of giving up, he decided to beat the disease and raise awareness and money for liver cancer research by running.

“My overriding goal is to extend my longevity!
Ultrarunning gives me the mental strength and the fitness to be able to tolerate these quite extreme medical interventions.”

Mark had a positive response to his radiation treatment, which made him more determined to beat this nasty illness.

In September he decided to run the Grand Union Canal Race after all, but individually!

In October, not even two months after his 145 miles run, he ran the Javelina Jundred, a 100-mile race in the hot Sonoran desert in Arizona, USA.
Although Mark had raced the distance several times before, it was a serious challenge under the circumstances.

“My fitness was not as good as it would be if I was training ‘normally’ for a 100 miler – this is just a function of time availability and that I do generally feel more tired than before. I did two training runs of 28 miles post the Canal run and before Javelina Jundred only.”But he was mentally in a good place. “I feel every mile is a good, purposeful mile!”
“No crew, friends to support – this was me wanting to face adversity in the desert as proxy for my own fight.”

“I just had a simple notion that if I could beat the desert…under-prepared,
under-trained and probably against the odds (50% DNF in 2016)
then I could beat anything, particularly my cancer.
There was something very uplifting about bellowing ‘fuck you cancer’ into that desert darkness…”

“I ran it more slowly…and more ‘risk averse’ I guess, due to the heat. I took more time at aid stations – making sure I was cool/iced up… normally I try and breeze through them. But the JJ was just about finishing. With my hour+ sleep at Jackass station at approximately mile 70, I reckon I spent around 5 hours not moving during the race!”

Despite one or two heat exhaustion/jet lag/stomach issues, Mark made it in just over 28 hours and qualified for the Western States Endurance Run.

Mark didn’t change anything in his race strategy, since his cancer diagnosis: “Listen to your body…respect hills and be prepared to go slower still.”
And already within 3 to 4 days after the race, he’s usually running 5-10 mile slowish recovery runs.

On race day Mark eats and drinks a little but often, and he walks out of aid stations with some food in a ziplock.
He avoids fizzy, sweet drinks for as long as possible (50+ Miles).

“During races I am always massively carb-deficient!
Outside of races I eat more protein, as its good for the liver function.
Sugar is my guilty pleasure!” he says.
Despite his Irish background where alcohol consumption is very common and plentiful, Mark hasn’t really drunk alcohol for over 12 years.

He is nocturnal and rarely sleeps more than 6 hours. But since his diagnosis and treatment, Mark is tired during the day.
“Running is becoming more important to me. I view it more and more as making me stronger (mentally and physically),” he says.

“I absolutely will not go quietly into the night.”
“I want to make people aware that my cancer is underfunded/under-researched…and if they can spare a little money (not easy in today’s climate) to donate to helping this…then that’s brilliant!”

In December 2017, Mark had raised £61.436,09 ($82.238,35) for the King’s College Hospital research.

Update 2019
“On January 30th 2019 I underwent major surgery to remove more than 50% of my liver. A procedure that had hitherto not been possible to prescribe given the disposition of my cancer and the complication of having underlying cirrhosis. The operation went as well as possible.

However, my tumour biology means that I am susceptible to recurrence, and at the beginning of May 2019 (and at the time of writing this update) scans have revealed secondary cancer outside of the liver.

I am coming to terms with this…but boy, it’s hard to take whilst still not 100% recovered from the previous surgery.

A treatment plan is being formulated and I am firmly resolved to uphold what I said after my initial diagnosis – I refuse, absolutely refuse, to go quietly into the night. I’ve undergone five procedures and am still jabbing away some two years later, though the medics are unsure as to why. This is the nature of liver cancer in many, many cases.

So, whilst and when I can, I’m going to use my passion for ultrarunning as a means to keep raising funds for research into my cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) at King’s College Hospital (KCH) in London – who have been caring for me as an outpatient for the past 14 years for my liver disease and who are now providing support and treatment for my cancer.”

You can support Mark and help him reach his goals via his fundraising page or contact him via mark@thornberry.co.uk or.
And you can join the Clue-doh race on June 1, 2019 in the UK, of which all profits raised will be donated to Mark’s charity.

Understanding and preventing liver disease
More than half of all people diagnosed with primary liver cancer have cirrhosis, a scarring condition of the liver commonly caused by alcohol abuse. Hepatitis B and C and hemochromatosis can cause permanent damage and liver failure. Liver cancer may also be linked to obesity and fatty liver disease.

It’s pretty common in today’s society, and also in the runners’ community, to socialize or celebrate with a few or more alcoholic drinks. It’s even kind of expected on many occasions to drink along and not to be a “party pooper.”
But fortunately skipping the booze is getting more and more accepted, now more people have the desire to improve their health.

Alcohol doesn’t do anything for our health and performance. It dehydrates, irregulars sleep, raises the heart rate, slows down recovery, and lowers blood sugar levels.

Recent research has illustrated the effect of alcohol on the body’s largest tissue – skeletal muscle. This is the tissue that covers your skeleton, holding both bones and joints in the correct positions and controlling pretty much every body movement.

There is a period of muscle protein synthesis, the process via which muscle cells generate new proteins, which is necessary for the skeletal muscles to benefit from training by recovering, growing and adapting. Without this, you would never improve and you would be constantly injury-prone. Alcohol has an enormous impact on muscle protein synthesis, reducing it by up to a third.

Initiatives like the OYNB (One Year No Beer) and The 28 Day Alcohol-Free Challenge successfully jump in the health-conscious trend.
Annie Grace’s developed a simple and effective methodology to cure herself of her alcohol addiction. Her Naked Mind course sells like crazy, her website community of thousands of people grows fast, and her first book that will be available in January 2018 pre-sells without any effort, and already got 680 very positive reviews.

Britain has always been known as a nation that loves a tipple. But the latest Office for National Statistics lifestyle survey suggests this may be coming to an end.

The 2016 poll of nearly 8,000 Britons found just under 60% had had a drink in the past week – the lowest rate since the survey began in 2005.

Young people are not the biggest drinkers. In fact, they are among the age groups least likely to have consumed alcohol in the past week.

The most frequent drinkers are the middle-aged, particularly those among high-income groups. Problem drinking in older age groups (45-64)is a real threat though, with alcohol-related hospital admissions and mental health problems on the rise, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the United Kingdom.

Resources / further reading
Cancer Patient Runs Ultras To Raise Funds For Cancer Research
Hero runner with terminal cancer to run 145-mile ‘ultra-marathon’ across three days

Liver disease cirrhosis explained
Liver cancer: risk factors, symptoms, how it is found, and how it is treated

Are Britons falling out of love with booze?
How does alcohol affect your athletic performance?
How Does Alcohol Affect Fitness & Running Performance?

OYNB – One Year No Beer
Book: The 28 Day Alcohol-Free Challenge: Sleep Better, Lose Weight, Boost Energy, Beat Anxiety

The Naked Mind movement: Change your relationship with alcohol by Annie Grace
30-day Alcohol Free challenge; get ready for the life you’ve dreamed about! – Sign up for free
Book: This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life

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Mark had planned to run the oldest ultra in Great Britain, the Grand Union Canal Race, 145 miles from Birmingham to London in May 2017.
Cancer treatment forced him to pull out though. He couldn’t wait for the next year’s race either because his cancer was now terminal. So instead, he planned to run it the race by himself on 2-4 September the same year, when he felt good enough to cover the 145 miles.

After sharing a post on Facebook, he got an amazing amount of love and support from the ultrarunning community. Lots of people joined him during his personal three-day challenge, cheered him on, supplied water and sandwiches, and help him funding ca $68.000 for research into liver disease/cancer at Kings College Hospital (KHS) in London.

“I wasn’t sure I could do it, but when you get so many people joining your efforts, it goes a long way.”

On his charity funding page Mark says:
“KCH is one of the great NHS teaching/research hospitals…and it is brilliant. Everyone I’ve met there, from porter to nursing support to Consultant have been off the chart with their dedication to patient care. They all know that liver cancer patients have a very poor prognosis.

Having spent some time as a patient on the wards there, you just sense how much more the team wants to do to fix you completely or to get you more time.

But in the majority of cases they can’t…the treatment options for liver cancer patients are very limited, the research £s aren’t there (and I’m not going to get political here), I get the sense that NHS funding for critical illness is still massively triaged, let alone is it enough in relative terms. The big Pharma companies have their own agendas and preferred target markets.

So, I’m going to do my bit to help KCH (Charity Fund), and thus am asking for your support. If you could sponsor me for these running challenges/races, that would be brilliant.”

“All I want to do is pay it forward. I want others to know that a diagnosis like this doesn’t have to be all dark.”
Mark had a positive response to his radiation treatment, which made him more determined to beat this nasty illness.

In October, not even two months after his 145 miles run, he ran the Javelina Jundred, a 100-mile race in the hot Sonoran desert in Arizona, USA.
Although Mark had raced the distance several times before, it was a serious challenge under the circumstances.

“My fitness was not as good as it would be if I was training ‘normally’ for a 100 miler – this is just a function of time availability and that I do generally feel more tired than before. I did two training runs of 28 miles post the Canal run and before Javelina Jundred only.”

But he was mentally in a good place. “I feel every mile is a good, purposeful mile!”
“No crew, friends to support – this was me wanting to face adversity in the desert as a proxy for my own fight.”

“I just had a simple notion that if I could beat the desert…under-prepared, under-trained and probably against the odds (50% DNF in 2016) then I could beat anything, particularly my cancer.
There was something very uplifting about bellowing ‘fuck you cancer’ into that desert darkness…”

Despite one or two heat exhaustion/jet lag/stomach issues, Mark made it in just over 28 hours and qualified for the Western States Endurance Run.

Mark didn’t change anything in his race strategy, since his cancer diagnosis: “Listen to your body…respect hills and be prepared to go slower still.”
And already within 3 to 4 days after the race, he’s usually running 5-10 mile slowish recovery runs.

On race day Mark eats and drinks a little but often, and he walks out of aid stations with some food in a ziplock.
He avoids fizzy, sweet drinks for as long as possible (50+ Miles).

“During races I am always massively carb-deficient! Outside of races I eat more protein, as its good for the liver function. Sugar is my guilty pleasure!” he says.
Despite his Irish background where alcohol consumption is very common and plentiful, Mark hasn’t drunk alcohol for over 14 years.

He is nocturnal and rarely sleeps more than 6 hours. But since his diagnosis and treatment, Mark is tired during the day.
“Running is becoming more important to me. I view it more and more as making me stronger (mentally and physically),” he says.

Unfortunately, Mark didn’t get a ticket for the Western States Endurance Run in June 2018. But he got a place in the Grand Union Canal Race in May 2018 and at age 58 he finished in a respectable time of 44:10:00 hours:-)

“I absolutely will not go quietly into the night.”
“I want to make people aware that my cancer is underfunded/under-researched…and if they can spare a little money (not easy in today’s climate) to donate to helping this…then that’s brilliant!”

So far (December 2019), Mark has raised £78.346,30 ($10.3082,83) for the King’s College Hospital research, 78% of his target.

In May 2019 scans unfortunately revealed secondary cancer outside of the liver. Mark has undergone five procedures and although his treatment options are limited, he’ll keep using his passion for ultrarunning as a means to keep raising funds for research into his cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) at King’s College Hospital (KCH) in London.

“Your help with fundraising is crucial. I’m just not accepting of the fact that liver cancer is currently only curable by transplant (and the vast majority of us are either detected too late for that or are qualified out by other criteria). The monies raised via this page have been deployed to enable research into the ‘mechanics’ of liver cancer, to further understand disease progression…and ultimately to help target more precise treatment pathways for patients…and that is just so uplifting,” Mark says.

You can support Mark and help him reach his goals via his fundraising page.