Charlie Balls, Christie fundraiser

This month, we’re putting Charlie Balls into our fundraiser Hall of Fame for taking on the London Marathon to raise money for The Christie Charity and in support of his twin brother Oliver’s treatment.

Charlie’s first experience of The Christie was in 2020, when his twin brother Oliver was diagnosed with a craniopharyngioma, a type of brain tumour. After having surgery for this, Oliver was referred to The Christie for proton beam therapy.

At The Christie, Charlie said the staff took amazing care of Oliver, and his treatment was over in just 2 months. Oliver now visits The Christie every 6 months to check on the tumour and is getting back to his normal life – continuing to play sport and taking his A-levels alongside Charlie.

Last year, Charlie decided to fundraise for The Christie Charity to say thanks for Oliver’s treatment at the hospital. He saw that the Charity had places available in the London Marathon 2024, an event he’d always wanted to take part in. As he was turning 18 just before the London Marathon, Oliver would be one of the youngest people taking part in the iconic run.

Charlie’s training plan for the London Marathon started in early 2024. However, he had to put his running on hold when he injured his hip playing hockey in early January. Charlie said the setback was frustrating as he’d been looking forward to training for the London Marathon.

But Charlie was committed to taking part, so he said he never thought about pulling out of the run. Thankfully, he was able to resume his training plan just before Easter.

To raise the money for his London Marathon challenge, Charlie organised various events including a Krispy Kreme sale at his college. He also asked family and friends to donate to him.

“This was one of the best decisions I made – despite finding the last few miles of the run extremely tough, the experience of running the London Marathon was amazing and I was blown away by the amount of crowd support that attended. Running with The Christie Charity vest on helped to remind me of why I am running it and having a name on the vest was great as it made the crowd support even better.”

We’d like to say a big thank you to Charlie for his amazing fundraising. By taking on the London Marathon 2024, Charlie raised just under an incredible £7,300 for The Christie Charity. Fundraising like this helps us keep supporting cancer patients and their loved ones, over and above what the NHS can fund.

Would you like to fundraise for The Christie Charity? Speak to the charity team on 0161 446 3988 or see how you can get involved with fundraising.