Lawyer's family pass £100k fundraising in memory of son
A partner at legal firm DWF and his family have passed the £100,000 mark in a fundraising drive to support brain tumour research, after a variant of the condition claimed the life of his son.
Iain McLean, whose son Duncan died five years ago this month aged 20, is himself attempting to run the equivalent of John O’Groats to Land’s End between October 2020 and his taking part in this year’s London Marathon in October 2021.
Duncan, a keen sportsman and rugby fan, died just two days after being diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a highly aggressive brain tumour with an extremely poor prognosis. He had previously experienced a series of increasingly excruciating headaches.
The McLean family then set up the Duncan McLean Fund to support The Brain Tumour Charity in its research into treatments, and have led a surge of popular fundraising activities from their East Lothian home.
Iain McLean is also part of The Brain Tumour Charity’s Scottish steering committee that advocates for change for everyone affected.
He commented: "We didn’t set out thinking, 'Let’s raise 100k or 50k or something'; it just snowballed through the incredible support over the past five years. What’s been amazing is that people keep giving.
"We didn’t have any awareness of brain tumours because it was only three weeks with what started as headaches for Duncan, so we had no knowledge about their impact at that stage.
"A friend of mine, Dr Robin Grant, a neurology consultant at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, recommended supporting The Brain Tumour Charity and their early diagnosis work. Things took off from there."
It began with a huge golf challenge by Duncan's friends, which raised about £20,000. Other events have included a Three Peaks challenge in summer 2020, and a "Run for Duncan" in December 2019 in which over 400 people turned out from the local community.
On his current target Mr McLean added: "I’ve not down a marathon before so my theory is that if I manage to do this Land’s End to John O’Groats challenge, I won’t have to do much training for the actual marathon, but that might be wishful thinking. I will though be much fitter and ready for it than I am now! And of course there’s the mental health benefits of exercise while we’re stuck at home during the pandemic.
"Since 4 October I’ve done over 370 miles and I schedule myself to do three runs a week. The pandemic has screwed up all the plans I had last year, but committing to this virtually means I should be able to continue throughout the coming months and into the summer and achieve 874 miles in total.
"I’m 59 at the moment, I’ll be 60 by the time the marathon comes around but then 60 is the new 40!"
A further, virtual "Run for Duncan" takes place this Sunday, 28 February, in which people can take part through runs and walks wherever they are. Details can be found here and everyone is welcome to participate.
Alice Russell, The Brain Tumour Charity’s development manager for Scotland, said: "We remain so incredibly inspired by everything The Duncan McLean Fund has done for everyone affected by a brain tumour diagnosis.
"The tireless fundraising and awareness efforts of Iain and the family remain a beacon of support for so many and this is an outstanding sum of funds that will help to drive change."