Former England cricket captain signs up to Wales Coast Path Cancer Challenge

Former England cricket captain signs up to Wales Coast Path Cancer Challenge

Former England cricket captain Sir Andrew Strauss has signed up to walk a leg of the Wales Coast Path Cancer Challenge supporting Craig Maxwell in his efforts to raise £1m to improve the outcomes of cancer patients in Wales.

Strauss was keen to join the challenge, which will see him walk from Pendine to Carmarthen on 5 March, after hearing dad of two Craig’s story.

Craig was just 40 when he was diagnosed with incurable and inoperable EGFR lung and bone cancer in September 2022.

After doctors found an eight-centimetre tumour in his left lung in June 2022, it took 78 days for the official diagnosis to come back as EGFR lung cancer, a non-smoking lung cancer.

Strauss’s wife Ruth was diagnosed with an incurable non-smoking lung cancer in early 2018. The 46-year-old mum of two died later that year on December 29 and Strauss has since set up the Ruth Strauss Foundation in her memory to raise awareness of, and support patients with, lung cancers.

Approximately 39,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year in the UK. Around 15 per cent of those have EGFR mutations which are more common in women than men and in people who have never smoked or have been light smokers.

Since his diagnosis, Craig has thrown himself into raising hundreds of thousands of pounds to help others detect cancer earlier. Over the last year, he has run the London Marathon, taken part in CARTEN, cycled 320 miles from Cardiff to Paris, cycled over 420 miles from Paris to Bordeaux and taken on the Welsh 3000s – climbing over 10 mountains, all over 3,000ft in 24 hours. Earlier this year, he was crowned Cycling Plus’ Rider of the Year for his efforts.

He is now hoping to raise a monumental £1m for the Maxwell Family Genomics Fund, a fund as part of Velindre Cancer Centre, to enhance, improve and develop the cancer pathway in Wales.

Starting in North Wales, Craig is being joined by over 500 walkers over the course of the 26-day Wales Coast Path Cancer Challenge.

The challenge will see walkers cover 780 miles of the coast path to represent the 78 days it took Craig to receive his diagnosis from the point of finding his tumour. The rest of the 870-mile coast path will be cycled. It is being done in 26 days to mirror the QuicDNA project, a genomics research project to reduce diagnosis time for lung cancer patients to a maximum of 26 days.

Acknowledging the unpredictable nature of his ongoing treatments, Craig will be joined by a different Welsh celebrity every day of the walk, so that regardless of his ability to walk, he will have a representative to take on the challenge.

A rugby match ball will be relayed the entire distance of the challenge, symbolising Wales’ collective fight against cancer and it will culminate at the national stadium of Wales, the Principality Stadium, on 10 March for the Wales vs. France Guinness Six Nations match, where Craig accompanied by his children, Isla and Zach, will carry the match ball onto the pitch.

The people of Wales are being encouraged to support Craig’s efforts either by joining a leg of the challenge via https://maxwell.foundation or by taking on their own fundraising challenge between 14 February – 10 March via https://velindrefundraising.com. This can be anything from a 1-day walking challenge to walking a mile a day over the 26 days. 

Craig says:

“I’m delighted that Andrew is joining us for a leg of the walk. The work that he is doing through the Ruth Strauss Foundation in supporting families, like mine, who have had a lung cancer diagnosis, and driving research into non-smoking lung cancers, is incredible. I’m looking forward to walking with him, hearing his own experiences, and showing him the beautiful Wales Coast Path. 

To find out more visit maxwell.foundation and Wales United Against Cancer Walk | Velindre Fundraising.