Simon's Trail Run Challenge for Mark's Battle With Melanoma

For those of us who have lived abroad, you may know how important it is to create a home away from home. People quickly turn from friends to family. Last year, one of our dear family members, Laura Younger, passed away unexpectedly. This shook us to our core but brought our island family even closer. Mark, Suzy, and Louie are a pivotal part of that island family, sharing their Kiwi spirit here in Thailand - becoming friends that will last a lifetime.

Unfortunately, the reality of our lifetime hit home once again as Mark was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma this past month.

The news has come as quite a shock and it's all been a bit of a whirlwind since that day to get Mark the care that he needs. To make matters worse, they've been left with an obscenely large hospital bill and plenty more to come.

While they focus on healing and staying strong, I'd like to help in a small way by alleviating some of the financial stress that's also been laid on them. So with that said, I've made the (potentially) silly decision to run the Koh Phangan Trail Run on October 22nd in support of Mark. The run is 25km and includes a run up the tallest mountain we have here on the island, Khao Ra. If that's not daunting enough, it's likely to be around ~32°C, 1,170m elevation gain, at 90% humidity, running through the jungle.

The few hours of suffering I will endure is only a minute fraction of what they are going through, but if my fundraiser can help in any way, it will all be worth it.

Thanks :)