John (56) tackles marathon after terminal brain tumour diagnosis

John Waters congratulates wife Rachel after one of her recent fundraising runs

A man who was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour is to run the London Marathon with his wife to raise money for a charity which supports fellow sufferers.

John Waters, who lives in Syston, was 52 when doctors told him he had a grade four glioblastoma brain tumour in 2016 and he had just 15 months to live.

Seven years on, he is preparing to pound 26 miles around the streets of the capital city with wife Rachel in aid of The Brain Tumour Charity, which funds research into the disease.

John said: “The illness obviously had a massive impact on the family but we’ve made the decision to raise as much money as we could for The Brain Tumour Charity to raise awareness of this awful disease.

John Waters, who was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour in 2016 but is now running a marathon

“We have done this in various ways, one of which has been running which my wife Rachel has embraced and has done numerous half marathons of which I accompanied her on a couple.

"Last year she did the London Marathon and wore her brain tumour vest with pride and I was there to see her finish - a very proud moment.”

John underwent an emergency operation back in August 2016 when he was diagnosed, followed by a gruelling round of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Miraculously, there has been no reoccurrence despite that bleak early prognosis.

“One thing that is very important to me now is that people become aware of the symptoms of this form of cancer as there is no doubt in my mind that the earlier it is picked up, the easier it is to treat and many of the symptoms you may not associate with a brain tumour,” added John, who became an ambassador for the charity five years ago.

“As a family, we are determined to increase awareness and to raise as much money as we can to helping its research.”Rachel, who is coping with her own COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) condition, said: “To go from being someone who would fall apart after running 200 yards, to being someone who could run 13.1 miles was a huge achievement.

"Each time, I found the races very difficult but I would think of John and it would pull me through.”

She added: “When watching last year’s marathon and seeing all those people raising money for their chosen charities we both said wouldn’t it be great to do together even though John is suffering neuropathy in his feet.

“John is either down the gym doing strength training or out running to his marathon training plan and I’m out running with my club, Wreake Runners, and doing longer runs on my own.

“On the day we have decided to start off running together, hopefully in the same pens. If one of us is running faster than the other, we will separate but have said whoever reaches mile 23 first will ring the other to see how far behind they are and if they are close, we will wait and run the finish line together. Probably in tears.”

Click HERE to sponsor John and Rachel, who have a 20-year-old son, Charlie.