Runner Nicky's determined to deliver for emotional cause

Nicky Lawton, an office manager at Arthur Terry School, was left devastated when her father, Phil Morris, received a terminal bowel cancer diagnosis last year. Heartbreakingly, he passed away in December after contracting sepsis.

Now Nicky is on a mission to honour Phil's memory while helping charity.

She competed in the Cathedral to Castle run at the weekend to kickstart a hat-trick of events.

She will run the Birmingham and Lichfield half marathons next month.

"Dad would have turned 70 this year," she said. "He was quiet, unassuming, blended into the background and never really wanted a fuss.

"But one thing that everyone has said since his passing is that he was always there in the room and now he's not there, there's something missing. He was integral to the family and when you lose such a key figure, it's hard, devastating to be honest.

"So I needed a focus because I find it quite hard to just switch off and think 'that's it, he's gone'. I decided to do these runs for St Giles, it gives me something positive to do."

She has already raised £600 through a justgiving page after setting an initial target of £300. Friends have also pledged more than £200 through a facebook link to the hospice.

"Once these runs are over, I'm going to speak to St Giles about maybe doing some fundraising work as well," she said.

"I'd like to keep giving something back to them. They are amazing.

"We didn't have much to do with them but on one weekend dad was taken into hospital – the ambulance team did a referral because he fell – and the hospice were incredible.

"I don't know what we'd have done without the guidance and support we had off them. What they did just for a pocket of time, I'll never forget it.

"What they put into people's lives on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, is so important."

You can sponsor Nicky at justgiving.com/fundraising/n-lawton