Gethin Jones leaves BBC Morning Live to support friend given months to live
BBC presenter Gethin Jones skipped his usual spot on the Morning Live sofa to support his friend, who has been given only months to live.
Craig Maxwell had to wait 78 days for his incurable and inoperable EGFR lung and bone cancer diagnosis, and he wants to speed up this process in Wales to help others detect the disease earlier. Over 500 people have joined former Welsh Rugby Union commercial director Craig on his charity walk along the Welsh coast, including his close pal Gethin, who walked with him on Tuesday morning.
The aim of the walk is to raise £1million to make cancer diagnosis quicker in Wales. During his challenge, Craig will walk 576 miles and cycle 204 miles - a total of 780 miles, which represents the number of days it took for his diagnosis. Last summer, Craig shared his diagnosis where he was given between 10 and 18 months to live at the age of just 41.
Gethin joined Craig on his walk around Wales (BBC)Famous faces from Wales, including Sam Warburton, Ryan Jones, Josh Navidi, Liam Reardon, Wynne Evans, Jamie Roberts and many more will join him during his challenge. On the BBC's Morning Live show, Gethin asked Craig why he chose to walk around Wales instead of "putting his feet up on holiday".
Craig gave a heartfelt response, saying: "There's two reasons. The first one is the experience me and my wife went through by waiting for those 78 days - we just felt compelled that we need to do something for the next family. That wasn't something which we wanted someone else to experience and there are ways in which we can help solve that problem. So that's really driven and motivated us.
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"But also, the most challenging part really is unfortunately I'm not going to be there to give the right messages and support to my wife and children in the future. So for me, by doing events like this and fundraising, I can show my children the lessons of life and the positivity through the actions that I took through our darkest time. That's really important for me."
"Not now, but when they're 19/20 and things are hard for them, then they'll think their dad didn't let things beat him and he got up, and he tried to as best he could." The walk/cycle will finish at the Principality Stadium on Sunday, March 10 for Wales v France in the Six Nations.
Craig and his wife Tracey share two children - Isla, 12, and Zach, eight. Speaking to MailOnline last year, Craig said: "I am scared. I’m scared about the things I won’t be able to influence. I am getting all my affairs in order and arranging and paying for my own funeral. I want everything done so my wife doesn’t have to worry about anything."
The Macmillan Support Line offers confidential support to people living with cancer and their loved ones. If you need to talk, call us on 0808 808 0000.
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