The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A 42-year-old is being spurred back into the boxing ring to support a family who lost a loved one to a brain tumour.
Chris Miller from Holbeach is raising money for Cancer Research and The Brain Tumour Charity by taking part in the Ultra White Collar Boxing Event at the Peterborough Arena on June 29.
After taking part once previously and winning, he’s been inspired to take on the challenge after hearing of the passing of Angela Sedgwick (68) in March after 18 months fighting a brain tumour.
Angela’s daughter Kate Holt works with Chris’s partner Michelle Scott at Tesco in Holbeach where the store are set to put on a fun day and ‘Big Bandana Bake’ on June 15 including face painting, games and raffles to raise money for both charities, and support Chris.
“It’s not a nice experience,” said Kate of the brain tumour that claimed the life of mother of two and grandma of four Angela. “It’s your brain so it affects personality.
“After Christmas there was a massive change in her.
“Up to then she’d fought it well. It looked like she would be one of the better statistics in terms of survival, but unfortunately she wasn’t.
“My step dad Dave misses her tremendously though myself and brother Marcus are trying to be there for him.
“The reason there’s a separate charity is because out of all the funding, less than five per cent goes towards brain tumours despite it having a very low survival rate.”
Chris is a couple of weeks into his training for the event, but fundraising on behalf of Kate’s family is spurring him on, particularly having picked up a knee injury training.
He said: “It all makes me want raise as much money as possible.”
On whether he’s looking forward to it, Chris answers “Yes and no. The injury is playing on my mind a little bit, but
I’m moving on to sparring and now and I’ve got to remain unbeaten.
To donate visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/chris-miller51
