Good Morning Britain’s Richard Madeley bravely shared his personal brush with tragedy on the ITV morning show on Tuesday (15 April). Richard, who was steering the programme alongside Charlotte Hawkins, let viewers in on the heart-wrenching stories as part of their regular news segment.
During the poignant episode, Richard and Charlotte spoke with Emmerdale actor Tony Audenshaw to talk ahead of his participation in the London Marathon come April. Tony is running the marathon in memory of his late wife Ruth, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2017, raising much-needed funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK.
In a touching disclosure, Richard revealed his own grief, speaking about losing one of his dearest friends to the relentless disease just months ago, with another close friend currently battling the same condition.
“I mean, I have to tell you, personally, I’ve lost a very, very close friend to it just a few months ago, and another very, very close friend has just been diagnosed with it,” he confided in Tony and Charlotte.
He then turned his attention to Tony, recognising the particularly vicious nature of pancreatic cancer: “You’re right. All cancers are awful, but pancreatic cancer is especially aggressive, isn’t it?” reports Manchester Evening News.
Tony, who will be running the marathon on a date that would have marked his 24th wedding anniversary with Ruth, emphasised the critical need for funding and research into cancer that took his wife, sharing her despair and frustration at the lack of resources allocated to combating the disease.
“Yeah. For a long time, this has been underfunded. It is something that Ruth was upset and angry about that this cancer had been so underfunded,” Tony expressed.
“We need money to go into research, and this breath test is really going to make a massive difference if it goes ahead.”
Tony’s wife, Ruth, lost her brave battle with pancreatic cancer in April 2017 at the young age of 43, leaving behind a poignant request for her husband: should he ever run the London Marathon again, she wanted him to do so for Pancreatic Cancer UK.
The Emmerdale star, who has portrayed Bob Hope for a quarter of a century, is set to honour his late wife’s wishes by participating in the esteemed marathon on Sunday, 27 April.
Tony is dedicated to raising funds for a breakthrough diagnostic breath test for pancreatic cancer, a potential lifesaver for countless individuals.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
