Dad is lighting the way to the Olympic Games

Richard Cutcher • Published 6 Feb 2012 17:30

A DAD who set up a fundraising trust in memory of his son, will be blazing forward as an Olympic torchbearer.

Paul Bennett, a service manager at BMW in Maidenhead, founded Shining On with wife Sherrie after their son Declan died from a rare blood disease in 2010, aged four.

Mr Bennett has been given a conditional offer to carry the flame in Cheltenham on May 23, after being nominated by his colleagues.

The 31-year-old said: "It's fantastic. I was quite speechless, really taken aback. It's nice to be put forward, with what we've been through and what we've done for charity, it's nice to have something to look forward to."

So far the Bennetts, from Bracknell, have raised £7,000 of their £10,000 target for the Histiocytosis Research (HR) Trust, which funds research into the illness from which Declan suffered - Haemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis.

Mrs Bennett, 30, will be fundraising by running the Bupa 10k at the London Olympic site on May 27. She said: "Really our aim is to spread the awareness further afield of the HR Trust.

"We just want to say a massive thank you because without the help of friends, family and supporters we wouldn't have been able to do it all and that's what's keeping us going. After losing Declan doing the charity work is really special to us."

Other fundraising events coming up include a charity race night at the Grange Hotel in Bracknell town centre from 8pm on Saturday, May 5 and a netball tournament on May 13

For information on the appeal, see www.hrtrust.org

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