When Marc Bozdogan’s closest friend of over 40 years finally passed away after an 8 year battle with SARCOMA cancer, the daunting decision to run the London Marathon to raise money and awareness of SARCOMA was made. As Marc is, by his own admission, not an endurance athlete it has been a titanic task for him to go from zero to successfully completing the 2017 London Marathon in a time of 4:08:23. Marc is the MD of Valveforce Limited and a valued client of Roar Marketing.
Marc’s friend Scott was a very keen runner and he would have loved to run the London Marathon, but this dream was taken away from him when he was diagnosed with sarcoma. Sarcoma UK is a charity that not only supports people and their families that have the disease but they also train GPs to be more aware of sarcoma and equip them with the knowledge to recognise it in the early stages. Often this cancer is not diagnosed until it is the size of a baked bean tin, ideally the diagnosis needs to be when the tumour is smaller than a golf ball. 16% of sarcomas are diagnosed in people under 30, compared to only 2% of all other cancers.
Marc started training and fundraising for the London Marathon in November 2016. After training very hard he suffered an ankle injury which stopped him training for the whole of January but undeterred as soon as he was able he was back out training and his determination has paid off with him completing the Marathon and raising over £3,000 with more donations still coming in.
Marc is the MD of Valveforce Limited based in Shirley, employing 22 people. Marc is a highly skilled engineer and business leader, he and his team specialise in the highly technical scoping and installation of steam and water process energy and flow control systems in food manufacturing factories, paper and pulp manufacturing plants, hospitals and other large organisations.
“I am not any kind of long distance runner at all” Says businessman Marc, “when I first started training I didn’t have anywhere near the level of fitness or the dedication nor mental attitude that running the London Marathon has required, but I was determined to try my hardest. I have done what I set out to do which was to raise awareness of this cancer and importantly raise money for Sarcoma UK.”
Marc continued “People have been so generous and supportive, the local pub (The Drum & Monkey Dorridge) has raised nearly £1,000 and colleagues at work and customers have also given generously which I and Sarcoma UK are very grateful for.”
Marc was cheered on by supporters who travelled to London and Scott’s wife Lorraine was at the finish as he crossed the line!
Sarcoma UK works with patients, carers, supporters, healthcare professionals and researchers to drive awareness of sarcoma, promote early diagnosis and improve the patient experience. Early diagnosis could increase survival by 20% and the charity is providing education and training for GPs and provides a national helpline staffed by specialist nurses.
For more information visit Sarcoma UK and Valveforce.