AN NHS worker who lost her dad to throat cancer will be running the Yorkshire Marathon tomorrow for a charity to close to her heart.

Cari Jones, 29, from Copmanthorpe, York, is training to take part in her third marathon in aid of Throat Cancer Foundation - in memory of her father, Gerwyn Llewelyn Jones, who passed away in 2010, aged 56, from throat cancer.

Speaking of her inspiration, Cari said: “My dad tragically died in December 2010 just before my 21st birthday. It left me distraught."

Her dad had battled throat cancer when Cari was just nine years old and was recovering.

However, 10 years later, he was diagnosed with a second bout of laryngeal and soft palate cancer.

Cari said it was sepsis that caused him to deteriorate - because his immune system was so low that he was unable to fight off any infections.

“When he passed away, they put it down to a 'septic shower' so they never really treated him as having that. It was back in the times when sepsis wasn’t as much in the hospitals’ radar,” Cari said.

“He had radiotherapy the first time and I remember it being quite a few years after that before being given the all-clear.”

After her father’s untimely death, Cari took up running and has since lost seven stone in weight, dropping from 17st to 10st.

She said: “It was a slow and steady thing over the last five or six years but I run around four times a week now.

“This will be my third race for the Throat Cancer Foundation and my aim is to raise as much money as possible.

"Even at charity runs it’s always the big generic charities that people seem to give more attention.

"I don’t think there’s as much awareness of throat cancer and it would be good if there was bigger awareness.”

Meanwhile, David Lauder, 62, from York, will also be running the marathon this weekend for the blood cancer charity Bloodwise.

He said that after recovering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, he felt like he had been handed “a second chance”.

He said: “I decided that I wanted to give back in some way. After all, I had been so lucky to survive the infection and was seriously concerned I would not make it. I felt like I had been given a second chance.”

The Marathon, which is sponsored by Asda, will begin at 7am at the University of York, Heslington.

Runners will travel through Upper Helmsley, Sand Hutton, Stamford Bridge, Holtby and Osbaldwick before heading back to the finish line at the university.

To find out more, visit https://www.runforall.com/events/marathon/yorkshire-marathon/ and to sponsor David you can visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/david1stmarathon.