A Dundee man, who lost his dad and step mum to cancer within 10 months of one another, is fundraising for Cancer Research UK.
Graeme Jenkins, 38, will be hosting a race night and auction at the Admiral Bar on November 5.
Graeme said that he hoped to honour his dad’s legacy with the fundraising.
He added: “My dad, Wullie Jenkins, passed away in the January and the March before it, his partner Helen Chalmers, passed away.
“So it was both of them with cancer.
“We’re hoping to do the race night to raise as much money as we can for Cancer Research.
“Both of them passed away during lockdowns, they never ever got a wake.
“So we’re kind of hoping to do it as a remembrance slash race night because we never…it’ll never be the same.
“It’ll never be a wake, but we can all go and tell stories about them and hopefully raise a good amount of money for cancer research at the same time.”
Holding a race night to raise money for cancer research in memory of my dad and his partner of 33 years, who both sadly lost the lives to cancer within 10 months of each other. pic.twitter.com/DHm2cY8C0c
— graeme jenkins (@graemejenkins16) October 10, 2021
Helen died aged 67, just four weeks after her brain cancer diagnosis last march.
Months later, Wullie was diagnosed with lung cancer and died aged 72 in January.
Graeme added: “I miss my old man so much and hope to raise as much money as possible in his memory to go some way to help find a cure.”
Fundraising in his memory
Graeme and his step-brother Keith took part in a three-peak challenge over summer to raise money for the research charity.
Keith called the couple “proper Dundee people, at their happiest together at home”.
He remembered mum Helen as “a big kid” and recalls a happy household with step-dad Wullie.
Graeme said he hoped this race night would put his own total over £10,000, having already raised £8,000.
“I just wanted to do something with my dad’s legacy,” Graeme said. “Make something positive out of a bad thing that happened.”
After the race night, several items will also be auctioned off.
These include a signed Dundee United strip, a Charlie Adam’s derby strip and several golf packages, including one at Gleneagles.
Other items include bottles of alcohol, Amazon gift vouchers and personal training sessions.
“There’s a whole range of prizes,” Graeme said.
“I’ve been going about with my begging bowl for months now and a lot of people have been really good at donating things.”
Graeme added he had felt incredibly supported by friends and family so far and thanked everyone who had already donated.