Adam Webber, 45, is set to take on his biggest challenge yet this summer, four years after his wife Shelly passed away from ovarian cancer. As well as fundraising, he also hopes to continue raising awareness so others can recognise the symptoms.
In March 2022, during an appointment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, Shelly and Adam were told that the cancer had spread to a point that treatment could help control it but no longer improve Shelly’s condition.
“At that point I wanted to start doing something to help support others in a similar situation to us, so I signed up for a Race For Life and started our ‘Running for Shelly’ Facebook page.” - Adam.
Shelly passed away on 23 July 2022, just months after receiving her diagnosis.
“One of the last things Shell said to me was ‘you have to stay fit and healthy for our boy’, so after the Race For Life event I wanted to do more. I knew that she had been following Target Ovarian Cancer on Facebook so I got in touch to see how I could get involved…and the rest as they say is history!”
Adam and his sister-in-law Kayla ran the London Marathon in 2023, raising over £10,000 for our charity – with Adam losing 11 stone in the process. Since then, he has gone on to do the Great North Run, Cardiff Half Marathon, the Three Peaks Challenge and Brighton Marathon, totalling over an incredible £30,000 raised for Target Ovarian Cancer.
Staying motivated
“Doing these challenges gets me up in the morning. It still makes me happy, and it keeps me focused on spreading awareness of ovarian cancer. In grief, it gives you a purpose to keep talking and keep going.
"I believe if we had seen someone talking about ovarian cancer in the community and learnt the symptoms beforehand then Shelly might still be with us now. So, it drives me that by doing these challenges we could be saving others, helping other families.
“Every year since Shelly passed away, I’ve done something new to keep her memory alive. It’s something I talk about with our son a lot - as long as we’re still talking about her then she’s always here with us.
"This year I wanted to do something bigger that grabbed people’s attention. A challenge that had people doubting slightly whether I could do it as I thought that would help raise even more money and keep that awareness building within my local community and beyond.”
The 250/7 challenge
This August, Adam and his friend Sam are taking on 250 miles in just seven days starting at the summit of Snowdon and finishing back home in Cullompton. That’s seven ultramarathons…back-to-back.
“Snowdon is a beautiful place, and the highest peak in Wales so it takes the challenge to the next level. That’s what we wanted. It’s also a great route so it just made sense. Everything felt right when we started planning it.”
While Adam and Sam get ready to run, there will be a crew of four joining them on the journey. However, they’d love for as many people as possible to get involved along the route. Whether you join them walking up Snowdon on day one, run a few miles at any point or support the final stretch into Cullompton – everyone is welcome!
This isn’t just a run. It’s a challenge, it’s a community, it’s all for something bigger. Although we’re currently focusing on endurance training and just being on our feet all day, it’s as important to recognise it’s a mental challenge too. The support from our community, both offline and online, has been amazing so far and we hope it continues throughout. It really helps keep you going and will hopefully push us to that finish line.
The 250/7 challenge is taking place between Saturday 22 August and Friday 28 August.
As well as raising money for Target Ovarian Cancer, the duo are also raising money for Breast Cancer Now in honour of Sam’s sister-in-law who is currently in remission.
To find out more about the details of the challenge you can visit their team page.
