THE SON of former Western Telegraph chief reporter and Pembrokeshire Cystic Fibrosis Trust chairman Sybil Edwards is taking on a tough fundraising challenge following her brave fight with cancer.

Chris Edwards, 57, from St Nicholas, is taking on the famous Royal Parks half marathon in London in October to raise funds for Macmillan nurses in her name.

Sybil, 87, from Trefin, who founded the county branch of the trust almost 40 years ago with the late Grace Lloyd, was diagnosed with both breast cancer and lung cancer within six months of each other last year.

But, after undergoing intensive treatment at both Withybush and Singleton hospitals, she has been told the programme has been successful and she is now on a six monthly monitoring programme.

Sybil, who had a mastectomy as part of her treatment for breast cancer and six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for the lung condition, is now looking forward to leading a year of special fundraising and events in 2018 to mark the CF trust’s 40 year milestone.

Both she and her family were so grateful to the medical teams that took her through her treatment journey, and the Macmillan nurses who supported her, that they wanted to find a positive way of saying thank you.

Chris, who works in London as Senior Project Manager with international lifts and escalator company Kone Ltd, came up with the idea of running the 13-mile parks half marathon.

He has been training for the run on October 8 since the start of the summer.

Chris said: “As a family we were obviously shocked and devastated when we learned that mum had cancer, but the medical and support staff have been absolutely fantastic.

“She’s a remarkable woman; so full of energy. Her continued commitment to the CF branch at a time when many would think of taking a back seat, is a credit to her positivity and determination.

“Now we’ve had positive news about the future and we really want to do something to say thank you.

“I would love to see as many people as possible from Pembrokeshire support my mum, who has done so much herself to look after others in our county.”

Chris has set up a Just Giving page for people who want to support the run and has already sailed past the £1,000 mark. He has set a target of £100 per mile, which means he is already well on the way to his final figure.

Sybil, who still writes as a freelance journalist and publicity consultant, said: “I want to thank every single person who was part of the team responsible for my treatment.

“They were magnificent; from the senior consultants and the nursing staff to the drivers who picked me up every day from Trefin to take me to Singleton and the Macmillan team who helped me all the way.

“Thanks to them I can get on with all our ambitious plans for next year’s 40th anniversary of our CF branch, which is so important to me.”

Donating to Chris’s Just Giving page is easy. See justgiving.com/fundraising/chrisedwards59