Wills Story
I am 32 years old and passionate about new challenges. In 2017, I took on the City2Surf running in a Lion Dance Costume and have done so every year since! In 2020, the event was cancelled but just like the researchers at ACRF, I did not stop. I put on my lion dance costume and ran 14kms around the Bay Run in Sydney's Inner West. My participation every year is to honour the memory of my late Kung Fu Sifu (Grandmaster), Randy Sullivan Bennett, who passed away in early 2017 from mantle cell lymphoma.
Randy was an enthusiastic martial arts teacher, a mentor, and my friend. Although I only knew him for four years, he made a huge impact on my life, my outlook, and of course my Kung Fu training. Towards the end of 2016, I successfully achieved the level of black belt, with Randy pushing me hard and overseeing my gradings and sparring sessions. I was presented my Black Belt (on my birthday) in December 2016, and I made a promise to keep on training and make my Sifu proud!
The greatest appeal of doing a fundraising activity is to be able to help people and improve things. The City2Surf is a big event, and it is a good opportunity for me to raise as much money as possible for cancer research and ACRF, and I am committed to going the distance even if the event doesn't go ahead. It’s also where I can show respect to Randy in a meaningful way.
Sadly, cancer affects so many people with seemingly no regard to health, happiness or diet. Even Randy was not immune: he was a vegetarian, incredibly fit, good-humoured and with a positive view on life. Cancer makes me feel like there is so much we don’t know about the world and so much we can’t control, even with our own bodies. I believe that continued research is the only way forward in achieving an end to cancer, which is why I chose to raise funds for ACRF.
We can all help out with encouraging more funding for cancer research and increasing awareness of how that research is resulting in more successful treatments. Ultimately, we all want to see cancer completely eliminated!
Please join me and Run Regardless in 2021.
