Cancer took Wellesbourne man Ade but his legacy will continue

Jane Cure and her husband Adrian raised £35,000 for the James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer during the four years Mr Cure knew he was a kidney cancer patient himself.

The 52-year-old’s fight against the condition ended in March, but Mrs Cure remains focused on continuing to support the charity in memory of her husband.

As she works as office manager for the Stratford-based Polkadot Nurseries Ltd, the company agreed to adopt the cause as its chosen charity and has already raised £1,250 – an amount matched by Vodaphone, thanks to Mrs Cure’s brother Andy Coleman’s links with the communications firm.

Mrs Cure, who, along with Mr Coleman, is planning to walk 145 miles from Birmingham to London to raise further funds, said: “Ade was diagnosed on March 9 2007 and his life expectancy was 12 months.

“He lived for four years because of the drugs he was able to take. If we had not had fought for those drugs, we would not have had those four years. We said many times that one of the major positives of us being diagnosed was that it gave us a heads up. From that point, we never once said ‘we can’t’ or ‘we won’t’ because we knew our time together was so short.”

As well as seeing the birth of two grandchildren during these four years, Mr Cure motorcycled around Europe, attended a charity event at the House of Lords and saw the release of a ‘Calender Girls’ style charity calender featuring female friends around Wellesbourne.

He would have been celebrating his 53rd birthday next Sunday.

Mrs Cure said: “It is still a very difficult time for me but I want to be able to help support people in the same situation as we were in.”

Mrs Cure and Mr Coleman will begin their ‘Walk for A Cure’ on August 27 from the Gas Street Basin in Birmingham and make their way along the Grand Union Canal, aiming to reach Little Venice in London on September 3.

The pair, who are encouraging people to join them at any point of the route, are hoping to raise £10,000 for the James Whale Fund. Click on the link on the top right to sponsor them and find out more.