Date published: 02 March 2015 by Anna Jackson

A father of a terminally ill child in Swindon ran the Bath Half Marathon alongside his Family Support Worker and 11 other runners for Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity on Sunday 1 March.

The determined pair underwent a rigorous training regime to prepare for the 13.1mile challenge and have been raising money amongst family and friends to support their efforts. The Bath Half Marathon is not only a first for the Family Support Worker, but is also the first time Rainbow Trust has entered a team into an event in the South West. All money raised are in aid of the charity, which supports families caring for a child with a life threatening or terminal illness.

Chris Garlick (pictured above) is a Rainbow Trust Family Support Worker from the Swindon care team who provides emotional and practical support to families in the area.

He says: “This was truly personal to me as it is work-related but I also love a good challenge. We want to raise as much money as possible so that the charity can support more families across the South West.”

Matt Hunter, from Devizes, is supported by Chris, particularly before and after his son Joe sadly died last year.

“Chris had a real connection with my son Joe so when he visits it’s nice because we can remember him together”.

Chris continues to support the whole family, specifically Joe’s younger brother, Adam, and often goes hiking with Matt.

Matt and his family are one of the many families supported by Chris and Rainbow Trust. Rainbow Trust’s Swindon Care Team currently supports 125 families across the South West including Bath, Bristol, North East Somerset, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire. Each family has a dedicated Family Support Worker who is with them from diagnosis to cure or end-of-life care and bereavement, for as long as needed.

If you would like to support Matt and Chris, please visit their JustGiving page. A huge thank you to all those that ran for Rainbow Trust yesterday.