A dad is preparing to run the gruelling London Marathon in memory of the family's cat, Keith. Ian Holker, 54, aims to complete the 26.2-mile challenge in April to raise vital funds for leading vet charity PDSA as well.
Ian, from Warrington, said he wanted to do something to honour Keith's memory after the much-loved family pet passed away at the age of 11 last year. He will run together with his son Phil, 28.
Ian, who has run the Manchester Half Marathon before, said: "We lost our much-loved family cat, Keith, last year. He had health issues with his upper respiratory track and we went through about six months of treatment with him at the vets, which cost us thousands of pounds.
"We sadly lost Keith in September when he was 11-years-old. Losing him made me want to do something to honour his memory and also raise funds for pets and their owners who aren’t able to afford the vet bills.
"I started thinking of things I could do to raise funds and settled on the marathon.”
The design engineer is running alongside Phil, who is raising money for the Steps charity.
"I'm definitely not a runner, but I'm enjoying the training and I'm on track for April," he added.
Ian, who lives with his wife Michelle, 53, in Warrington, has just rescued a kitten called Molly.
"We miss Keith so much but we’ve got our little Molly now and she's reminded us how much joy pets bring to a family," he said.
"Which makes raising money for PDSA even more important to me."
Lucy Povall, fundraising manager at PDSA, said: "We're all so thankful to Ian for choosing to run for PDSA this year. His generous fundraising efforts will enable us to continue our life-saving work, treating pets whose owners have nowhere else to turn.
"It is thanks to the incredible support of kind-hearted people like Ian that we are able to provide vital treatment for poorly animals and make a real difference to their owners."
PDSA relies on donations to deliver life-saving treatment to hundreds of thousands of pets across its 48 pet hospitals in the UK.
You can sponsor Ian here.
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