Matthew Runs the Sheffield Half Marathon to Mark 10 Years Since His Daughter Beat Cancer

This weekend, Matthew will line up at the start of the Sheffield Half Marathon, running not just for the challenge, but to celebrate a milestone his family once feared might never come. It marks 10 years since his daughter, Phoebe, was declared cancer‑free – a journey that began with a phone call that changed their lives forever.

Matthew was in a café on February 3rd, 2015, attending a work meeting when his wife called from Sheffield Children’s Hospital. The night before, their five‑year‑old daughter had been admitted with a severe headache that had lasted all day. Because of the late hour, doctors postponed tests until the following morning. Believing it was likely something minor – perhaps an ear infection or a need for glasses – Matthew went to work as usual, waiting anxiously for an update.

But when the call came, he immediately knew something was terribly wrong.

He remembers hearing “fear, emotion and pain” in his wife’s voice. The short drive to the hospital felt endless as he fought back tears, bracing himself for news no parent should ever have to face.

Doctors told Matthew and his wife that Phoebe had a brain tumour.

“I spent the next several hours trying to absorb every bit of medical information we were given, while impossibly trying to put my emotions to one side so I could focus on what needed to happen. Everything was moving so fast.”

Then came the most devastating blow: Phoebe’s only option was an emergency 10–12 hour brain surgery that she might not survive. Matthew describes the moment as the one in which their “world turned upside down in an instant.”

Before she was taken into theatre, doctors instructed Matthew and his wife to say goodbye – something he says “broke him.”

While the surgery was a success, the road ahead was long, and the outcome uncertain. When Phoebe woke, she had lost almost all speech, was unable to walk, and had very limited movement on the right side of her body. Doctors reassured the family that with time and physio, she could regain these abilities.

Further tests revealed Phoebe had anaplastic medulloblastoma – the most aggressive and life‑threatening form of medulloblastoma. What followed was nearly a year of relentless treatment and unimaginable bravery.

In the end, Phoebe underwent 31 sessions of radiotherapy to her brain and spine, four rounds of high‑dose chemotherapy, and two brain surgeries – one to remove the tumour and another to insert a cerebral shunt. She also needed surgery to fit a Broviac line into her heart for treatment. Along the way came countless injections, bouts of sickness, infections, several stays in intensive care, blood transfusions, and stem cell replacements. The list goes on.

For ten months, Sheffield Children’s Hospital became the family’s second home. Finally, in November 2015, Phoebe was able to go home.

Now, a decade later, Phoebe is 16 years old, and 10 years cancer-free – a milestone Matthew is honouring by taking on the Sheffield Half Marathon and raising money in support for the place that saved his daughter’s life.