Miles for Grandma: A tribute run of love

As the only grandchild, Maya Sacks, a personal assistant from Whitefield, was very close to her grandma, Stella – the kind matriarch of the family.

Stella Bowman was an inpatient at Bury Hospice in 2022, but when she passed away, Maya wanted to honour her memory.

Maya said:

“As soon as my grandma was admitted, the care she received was just amazing."

"She had been struggling at home for a while, but when she came to the hospice, although it was a really hard time, we were blown away by the staff and how caring everyone was.”

Maya hadn’t truly realised the extent of what a hospice does until she experienced end-of-life care, first-hand.

And it was during her visits to see her grandma that she was shocked to find out that Bury Hospice isn’t fully government funded, and is heavily reliant on kind donations and fundraising efforts.

This realisation spurred Maya on to raise money for the hospice in honour of Stella and other local families.

She said:

“Giving someone dignity at the end of their life, is one of the most important things in the world."

“Until you’re in a hospice environment, you can never really appreciate how amazing and special it is."

“Being at Bury Hospice was very dignified for my grandma; we had that time with her, and she had private space, access to the gardens – the surroundings were calm."

“The hospice is a place where people come to at the most vulnerable time in their life, and that’s why it’s even more important to specifically raise money.”

Maya knew that fundraising for Bury Hospice would make a substantial difference but she wasn’t initially sure how she was going to go about it.

That was until the places for the Manchester Half Marathon were released last year.

“I wanted to raise lots of money for the hospice.”

With the mind-set of ‘sign up, do it, and commit,’ Maya was determined to take on her biggest physical challenge yet by completing the epic race.

She said: “I’m not a runner, but I just wanted to try and do it.”

Maya started her training, and all was going well, but she soon felt that she was getting out of breath, feeling very tired, and struggling to run.

Little did she know that she was actually pregnant.

Having already received lots of kind donations, Maya continued on with her training, doing what she could to keep her fitness levels up during those early stages.

“I had to do it because I wanted to raise lots of money for the hospice,” Maya said.

“But I could imagine that if my grandma were still alive, she’d think I was out of my mind.”

The atmosphere on race day, last October, was amazing but Maya was nervous because she’d been ill throughout her first trimester.

“I just needed to get it done,” she said.

“I’d hurt my foot early on in the race but the people of Manchester got me through, as I ran-walked the course."

“I saw the best of humanity, with people lining the streets holding posters and cheering us on the whole way along.”

Maya’s friends met her at mile 10, giving her an extra boost of energy; while her mum, husband, and dog were proudly waiting at the end of the course.

“I felt so happy, proud and relieved to have achieved it – and even more donations came through once I completed the race.”

Maya raised the fantastic sum of £1365 for Bury Hospice, surpassing her initial target of £1000.

She encourages anyone who’s considering fundraising for the hospice to be open-minded, particularly if the challenge is something they’ve never done before.

“The sense of achievement is amazing when you work towards something and raise the money,” said Maya.

She added: “It’s really something special doing a challenge when you’ve got a personal connection."

“But even if you’ve not got a connection to the hospice, just reading about it, trying to understand it, and getting involved in some of the challenges, is worthwhile; not only to raise money but personally for yourself.”

If you’d like to raise funds for Bury Hospice at this year’s Manchester Half Marathon, we have places available! Head here to sign up: https://www.buryhospice.org.uk/manchester-half-marathon