Marine runs five marathons in five days for sister with cancer

Mike Francis, Jonny Hibbins and Rhys Richards have raised more than £35,000 for life-prolonging cancer treatment for Justine Jianikos

A royal marine has run five marathons in five days to raise money for drugs to help prolong the life of his sister who has incurable cancer.

Mike Francis, of Taunton based 40 Commando, took on the challenge after completing eight weeks of training.

Justine Jianikos, from Pontypool, Wales, has stage four breast cancer that has spread to her spine and lungs.

Mr Francis, 37, said of the challenge: "We were in pain, but it's nothing compared to the pain Jussy is in".

The royal marine, who was joined by two friends, said he had never done a marathon before and had not gone further than about six miles (nine km) in a "very long time".

"My first marathon was on Wednesday," he said.

"I just do three to four runs a week to keep myself ticking over, so I had to train for it and dig deep as anyone would who runs marathons."

The men completed the "mammoth" challenge on Sunday

With time not on their side, due to the progression of his sister's cancer, Mr Francis, Rhys Richards and Jonny Hibbins, managed to get in just eight weeks of training.

On the ninth week, they set off on the first of the five marathons and crossed the finish line on their 131 mile (210km) challenge on Sunday.

"We were hitting the wall at the same time, mile 20 to 22, and we nicknamed that death ally, because when we were running this section, all three of us would just go quiet, but it was nothing compared to the pain Justine is going through," he said.

Mother-of-three, Ms Jianikos, was misdiagnosed in May when she was told a lump in her breast was benign.

Then, four days before Christmas, she was told she had stage four breast cancer - meaning it was incurable.

Mike Francis, Jon Hibbins and Rhys Richards on their run

"There was a lot of anger at first, on my part. She did everything right, got it checked out...why didn't they pick it up...but it's happened now, so we are just trying to do everything we can to prolong her life," Mr Francis said.

"I knew I had to do something that was really out there, to raise the money we need as the treatment is so expensive, hence why we did such a mammoth challenge and people have been amazing."

Mr Francis and his friends have so far raised more than £35,000.

The money will be used to fund alternative treatments - not available on the NHS - to prolong Ms Jianikos' life once her chemotherapy finishes.

Mr Francis said: "We just want her to enjoy as many treasured memories with our family for as long as possible, and give Justine the best chance of extending what precious time she has left with her children and fiancé."