Posted by 
A 72-year-old former headteacher was nominated for a Pride of Britain award this year for his fundraising efforts.
Mike Barnes is a volunteer driver for the North West Ambulance Service and in his spare time runs marathons to help raise money for Rosemere Cancer Foundation, Bowel Cancer UK and the Christie, in memory of his daughter Laura, who sadly died of cancer almost five years ago.
Mike has been inspired by Laura’s positivity and fundraising. She was the Area Fundraiser for Rosemere for Central Lancashire and the Fylde Coast, helping set up the Walk in the Dark event before joining Cancer Help in Preston as Head of Fundraising.
Read more: Staff from Royal Preston Hospital raise over £6k for motor neurone disease
Laura had been diagnosed with stage four terminal bowel cancer at Royal Preston Hospital and was later treated at the Christie in Manchester, and Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, before she died in December 2019, aged 36, 18 months after giving birth to identical twin girls.
During her treatment, she wrote a blog, the ‘Warrior Diaries’.
Mike said: “She remained really positive, that was her nature. She would say you have two choices when you get up in the morning: be positive or negative, and she chose to be positive.”
Mike was a headteacher at Flakefleet Primary in Fleetwood, before retiring in 2016, he went to work for Voluntary Services Overseas in Malawi, Africa for 18 months before Laura received news of her diagnosis.
Read more: The Black Horse reaches CAMRA’s final four for UK pub of the year
“She went from working at Rosemere to being a patient there. She was incredibly positive. She used to say ‘I accept the diagnosis, I know what I’ve got, but I reject the prognosis’. She was about to become one of the first to begin the immunotherapy trial at the Christie Hospital, but she developed pneumonia and went to Chorley Hospital.
“When there was nothing that could be done there that couldn’t be done at home, she came to stay with me for Christmas. The nurses came in every day and were amazing with her. She passed on December 28, and it was some comfort to her that her family were around her.”
Mike has continued to honour her upbeat outlook on life and was inspired to take up running at the age of 70 – he has now raised over £30,000 for different charities.
Read more: Royal Preston Hospital cricket tournament raises £1,650 for Baby Beat
“I’ve also done walks, the Three Peaks and things like that, with people who are going through treatment, and they are just amazing, it’s humbling. All I do is put one foot in front of the other – compared to what they’re going through, it’s nothing.”
Mike’s total contributed to his being nominated as one of four finalists for a Pride of Britain award as Best Regional Fundraiser of the Year. He said: “The nomination came out of the blue, I had no idea where it came from, but I’m proud to be a finalist, one of four from tens of thousands of people nominated.”
When he is not putting in the miles in his running shoes, he does so in his car, driving patients to and from appointments.
Mike’s next project is ‘Bonkers’ Running’ to stop Bowel Cancer, fundraising for Bowel Cancer UK, as he looks to complete two marathons, back to back in the space of a week – Brighton Marathon on 6 April and Paris Marathon on 13 April, which he is following up with an Ultra Marathon in Scotland.
You can see more details on his Just Giving page here.
Subscribe: Keep in touch directly with the latest headlines from Blog Preston, join our WhatsApp channel and subscribe for our twice-a-week email newsletter. Both free and direct to your phone and inbox.
Read more: See the latest Preston news and headlines
