Birmingham fun run could help fund leukaemia nurses

The fun run was held at Sutton Park on Sunday morning

Organisers of a BBC-supported leukaemia appeal fun run say they hope it has gone "a long way" to raising enough money for a specialist nurse.

More than 1,000 people took part in the 5km (3.11 miles) fun run at Sutton Park for the <link> <caption>BBC WM 95.6 Red Alert Appeal for Cure Leukaemia</caption> <url href="http://www.cureleukaemia.co.uk/redalert" platform="highweb"/> </link> on Sunday.

It aims to fund specialist nurses at West Midlands hospitals, including Birmingham Children's Hospital.

About £25,000 would pay for a nurse for a year.

The fun run was officially started by record-breaking marathon runner "Blind Dave" Heeley, from West Bromwich.

In 2008, Mr Heeley became the first blind person to complete seven marathons in seven days on seven continents, raising thousands of pounds for charity.

Sunday morning's fun run took place in memory of Richard Massey, a pupil at Fairfax School in Sutton Coldfield, who died of leukaemia in March 2009, aged 16.

BBC WM 95.6 football pundit Geoff Horsfield, who played for West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham City, was among those who took part.

Nina Jones, who is leading the appeal for the radio station, said: "We want to raise money to put nurses in hospitals across the region to give life-saving drugs to leukaemia patients who could otherwise die."