Family raises almost £80k for Teenage Cancer Trust in memory of Luke

THE MALCOLMSON family from Shetland has raised nearly £80,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust in memory of their son Luke.

Luke passed away this March, aged 21, following a five month long battle with leukaemia.

As well as an online auction raising £18,166, family members took part in the Edinburgh Marathon Festival over the weekend.

Their JustGiving page has received around £52,360 in donations at the time of writing, alongside an extra £6,990 in Gift Aid.

Luke’s dad, Iain Malcolmson, told Shetland News: “Luke had a couple of Hibs [football] strips…he said it would be good to auction it, so we started off this auction site.

“That just took off like an express train.”

The Facebook auction that finished last night (Sunday) had over 130 prizes and 1,800 members.

A variety of family members took part in the Marathon Festival’s events yesterday, the youngest being three and the oldest, Iain’s father Peter at 84.

“We’ve all done our runs and we’re all feeling a bit spaegie today,” Iain said.

Iain said the idea to take part in the festival came about as “it was a way of getting everybody to feel that they’ve contributed” after Luke was diagnosed last year.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t think that was going to be the result, that Luke was not going to be there,” he said. “The full intention was Luke would come and join us to do it…but we carried on.

“All the way through his illness, it became a focus for him.

“When the total was going up and up and up…he would put it up in the hospital ward, keep changing the totals. It was really good for him all the way through.”

Iain said the family was “delighted” by the money they have been able to raise for the charity.

The donation page can be found here.