Local family’s race for life challenge honours father and raises awareness of rare cancer

A family from Maghull who are running this June’s Race for Life at Aintree Racecourse in memory of their late husband, father and grandfather are aiming to raise awareness for the rare form of cancer that he died from in April 2025.

William Smith, 26, is running the race alongside his Sister Charlotte, Mother Gillian and 10-year-old Niece Harper on 14th June to raise money and awareness for Mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer that can develop in the lining of the body’s organs, usually caused by exposure to Asbestos.

William said:

“Charlotte rang me and said you’ll never believe this. Harper has signed me up for a 5k! I was laughing my head off and she said if you carry on like that you’ll be doing it with me, so I said I’ll do it too.

“I’ll have to do some training, I’ll probably do 5k but try and speed it up each time. My mum and my sister are planning on just walking it I think, but I want to try and make an effort to run it as much as I can.

“It (Mesothelioma) takes like 15 to 60 years to actually make a serious impact, but most people who’ve worked with Asbestos are usually around that age anyway. The reason it’s probably so rare is, and it’s going to sound really mean, most people have probably gotten to an age where it is reasonable to pass away.

“I was told not long after he died by someone that was sorting our claim that my dad is one of, if not the youngest they’ve ever had at 59.

“My Auntie told him in 2020 that his breathing wasn’t right, and my dad chose to ignore it. Until, it became so serious that he had to go to hospital and get a check. It slowly affected him to a point where within a couple of months he was bed-bound. They gave him every strong medication that they could and even then, he was in the foetal position in pain.”

According to the NHS website, the symptoms of Mesothelioma can vary depending on the type you have and the area of your body that is affected, either pleural which affects the lungs, or peritoneal which affects the stomach.

The main cause of the cancer is breathing in asbestos fibres over a long period of time. A building material that was used in the UK from the 1950’s, Asbestos was banned in 1999. Mainly people working in the building industry during this period will have experienced increased exposure to Asbestos throughout their life.

Tests for Mesothelioma depend on your symptoms and the area of the body that is affected. Your GP may arrange for you to have an X-ray of your chest or stomach. Other tests a patient may have after being referred to a specialist include CT scans, ultrasound scans or a PET-CT scan. There are also instances where fluid may be tested for cancer cells or operations are performed where a small camera is used to look inside the lungs or stomach.