It makes you feel you have done something worthwhile.
Dodging bullets and bombs in the Bosnian war was a traumatic time for Pete Davis, but nothing prepared him for the shock of finding out that what he thought was an annoying chest infection was actually inoperable lung cancer.
The news was broken to him over a couple of days, during which time he heard about the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation set up by the late TV entertainer who died from the disease in 1994.
But rather than think about what the foundation could do to help him, Pete was inspired instead to embark on a fundraising challenge of his own.
What started as a plan to walk a sponsored solitary one-mile lap around his local cricket pitch each night of April for charity rapidly turned into a mammoth community event involving more than 700 people.
“The Foundation supports the prevention of lung cancer by encouraging and helping people to avoid or quit smoking,” says Pete.
“It was very emotional. People came up to me to give me a hug and to say, ‘we are here for you.’ And there were people there who had survived to tell their own stories.
“We calculated that each person probably averaged 1,192 steps per mile, each night totalling around a million steps during April, and there were also a multitude of dogs taking part too.”
The event raised more than £5,000 to be split between Hope for Tomorrow and another local charitable initiative.
Affectionately known as ‘Pistol Pete’, he was given this nickname after a match against some Australian tourists when it was felt one particular player was not adhering to the rules, so Pete donned an umpire jacket and fired the player!
In short, he is a man who gets things done. He worked as a gas engineer out in Bosnia during the war, also he opened a training school and trained local staff to be gas engineers, and was also responsible for maintaining safety when the gas was constantly being turned off and on.
Pete, now aged 75, says he has spent his whole life trying to make people laugh, which hasn’t been easy as his own diagnosis was not the first time cancer has touched his family. His stepdaughter and Grandson are both in remission from breast and testicular cancer, respectively.
“If I can use my condition to help someone else, and the opportunity is there, then I will.”
Pete’s last scan came back with some positive news showing his tumour had shrunk and his white blood cells were on the up.
Nonetheless, the fundraising will continue. He has already had a sponsored haircut raising £100. At Christmas, he builds a Santa grotto and lights up a massive miniature Christmas village, which also contains a sensory light room for children, at Frocester Fayre, which has previously raised £1,300 for Hope for Tomorrow.
“People are generally very good-natured and kind,” says Pete, who recently received £150 in donations too from a couple of people he hadn’t seen since he captained the Chalford cricket team after they heard about his fundraising.
“Every little bit helps. You don’t have to have cancer to do something. People can raise money in so many ways. Frocester Beer Festival has raised over 1 million in donations for different charities over the past 40 years.”
More fundraising is planned at Frocester Cricket Club, and the nearby Ram at South Woodchester pub has donated £375 from three winning quiz teams.
Pete says: “It makes you feel you have done something worthwhile. You really only have the blink of an eye in this life, so best not to waste it.”
“I remember thinking to myself, I could do something to help too, so I decided to walk a mile every evening over the month of April, around my local cricket pitch where I had played on the team for some years. “I put some information up on the club’s notice board explaining what I was doing if anyone wanted to sponsor me.
“On the first night, around 15 people joined me on the walk and incredibly it grew from there with the entire Frocester first and second team, along with many family, villagers and friends turning up to swell the numbers to more than 200 on the final night.
In total, more than 700 people joined me over the course of that month. I choke up thinking about it now, at how kind everyone was and how they stepped up to the challenge. It was a very humbling experience.
I walked around talking to people I had never met. Lovely people. We had to touch the trees in each corner of the pitch as we went around (no shortcuts!). There were big bows on the trees in the corners, pink for breast cancer, ivory for lung, etc. along with information.
So, when he was diagnosed with single-cell, inoperable but treatable cancer, he was his usual indomitable self and set about finding a way through it.
After his second cycle of immunotherapy, he was told he could have the next two on the mobile cancer care unit based at Stroud Hospital, just ten minutes from his home.
“It has made my life so much easier,” says Pete.
“You shouldn’t drive after treatment, so if it wasn’t for the mobile unit, my wife, Jane (pictured below), would have to drop me off and pick me up at Cheltenham Hospital, which is 45 minutes away.
“The treatment on the unit is so much quicker too, as there are just a handful of people at any one time, so there is very little waiting around and the travel is less stressful.
“When you are not feeling 100 per cent, you want things to go as easily as possible.
“Some people who have to use public transport can find themselves on a seven-hour round trip from some of the more rural areas around me.
“By using the unit, you are benefiting the future for others who are diagnosed, and you are being treated too. It’s less stress, less travel, less expense. It’s a win, win, win all round.”
It makes you feel you have done something worthwhile.
Dodging bullets and bombs in the Bosnian war was a traumatic time for Pete Davis, but nothing prepared him for the shock of finding out that what he thought was an annoying chest infection was actually inoperable lung cancer.
The news was broken to him over a couple of days, during which time he heard about the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation set up by the late TV entertainer who died from the disease in 1994.
But rather than think about what the foundation could do to help him, Pete was inspired instead to embark on a fundraising challenge of his own.
What started as a plan to walk a sponsored solitary one-mile lap around his local cricket pitch each night of April for charity rapidly turned into a mammoth community event involving more than 700 people.
“The Foundation supports the prevention of lung cancer by encouraging and helping people to avoid or quit smoking,” says Pete.
“I remember thinking to myself, I could do something to help too, so I decided to walk a mile every evening over the month of April, around my local cricket pitch where I had played on the team for some years. “I put some information up on the club’s notice board explaining what I was doing if anyone wanted to sponsor me.
“On the first night, around 15 people joined me on the walk and incredibly it grew from there with the entire Frocester first and second team, along with many family, villagers and friends turning up to swell the numbers to more than 200 on the final night.
In total, more than 700 people joined me over the course of that month. I choke up thinking about it now, at how kind everyone was and how they stepped up to the challenge. It was a very humbling experience.
I walked around talking to people I had never met. Lovely people. We had to touch the trees in each corner of the pitch as we went around (no shortcuts!). There were big bows on the trees in the corners, pink for breast cancer, ivory for lung, etc. along with information.
“It was very emotional. People came up to me to give me a hug and to say, ‘we are here for you.’ And there were people there who had survived to tell their own stories.
“We calculated that each person probably averaged 1,192 steps per mile, each night totalling around a million steps during April, and there were also a multitude of dogs taking part too.”
The event raised more than £5,000 to be split between Hope for Tomorrow and another local charitable initiative.
Affectionately known as ‘Pistol Pete’, he was given this nickname after a match against some Australian tourists when it was felt one particular player was not adhering to the rules, so Pete donned an umpire jacket and fired the player!
In short, he is a man who gets things done. He worked as a gas engineer out in Bosnia during the war, also he opened a training school and trained local staff to be gas engineers, and was also responsible for maintaining safety when the gas was constantly being turned off and on.
So, when he was diagnosed with single-cell, inoperable but treatable cancer, he was his usual indomitable self and set about finding a way through it.
After his second cycle of immunotherapy, he was told he could have the next two on the mobile cancer care unit based at Stroud Hospital, just ten minutes from his home.
“It has made my life so much easier,” says Pete.
“You shouldn’t drive after treatment, so if it wasn’t for the mobile unit, my wife, Jane (pictured below), would have to drop me off and pick me up at Cheltenham Hospital, which is 45 minutes away.
“The treatment on the unit is so much quicker too, as there are just a handful of people at any one time, so there is very little waiting around and the travel is less stressful.
“When you are not feeling 100 per cent, you want things to go as easily as possible.
“Some people who have to use public transport can find themselves on a seven-hour round trip from some of the more rural areas around me.
“By using the unit, you are benefiting the future for others who are diagnosed, and you are being treated too. It’s less stress, less travel, less expense. It’s a win, win, win all round.”
Pete, now aged 75, says he has spent his whole life trying to make people laugh, which hasn’t been easy as his own diagnosis was not the first time cancer has touched his family. His stepdaughter and Grandson are both in remission from breast and testicular cancer, respectively.
“If I can use my condition to help someone else, and the opportunity is there, then I will.”
Pete’s last scan came back with some positive news showing his tumour had shrunk and his white blood cells were on the up.
Nonetheless, the fundraising will continue. He has already had a sponsored haircut raising £100. At Christmas, he builds a Santa grotto and lights up a massive miniature Christmas village, which also contains a sensory light room for children, at Frocester Fayre, which has previously raised £1,300 for Hope for Tomorrow.
“People are generally very good-natured and kind,” says Pete, who recently received £150 in donations too from a couple of people he hadn’t seen since he captained the Chalford cricket team after they heard about his fundraising.
“Every little bit helps. You don’t have to have cancer to do something. People can raise money in so many ways. Frocester Beer Festival has raised over 1 million in donations for different charities over the past 40 years.”
More fundraising is planned at Frocester Cricket Club, and the nearby Ram at South Woodchester pub has donated £375 from three winning quiz teams.
Pete says: “It makes you feel you have done something worthwhile. You really only have the blink of an eye in this life, so best not to waste it.”
