I was married to Jean for just over 40 years. I become widowed 16 years ago after she developed mesothelioma, a lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. I also lost my mother Jane in 1979 and most recently, my brother David in May 2021 too. David was only diagnosed in January of that year.
Jean was diagnosed in 2007. It was devastating, especially as Jean had nursed my mother when she was also ill with mesothelioma.
How fundraising has helped me to deal with my loss
I started fundraising at Jean’s funeral, we got about £1000, and we put them into the Jean Turnbull Snowdrop Memorial Fund. Now we’ve raised more than £17,600 and try to raise £1,000 for every year since she has died. I wanted to be able to do something to help fund the vital research and support for people with mesothelioma.
The lockdowns in 2020 were hard - we couldn’t even do a tombola and I had some health problems. My neurologist suggested I do a bit more walking so when the Stepathon came along in September 2020, I decided to take it on. I raised £870 that month and went on from there.
My three-year fundraising challenge
On New Year’s Day in January 2021, I challenged myself to do a five million step challenge and a million pedals on my exercise bike. A crazy idea, and I was sober at the time! Unexpectedly I got a £20 donation, so I decided that for every pound donated I’d do 20,0000 steps and 3000 pedals a day. And it has snowballed from there.
My plan is to complete 20 million steps and 3 million pedals over three years, picking up 1000 bags of litter along the way on my walks. I managed to complete 25,528,100 steps and 4,271,000 pedals. That brings my average to 27.6 miles daily, the equivalent to a marathon a day!
Supporting other people with mesothelioma
The idea for a mesothelioma support group came about because Jean used to visit our local hospice once a week to talk to other people who had cancer. None of them had mesothelioma and she used to say she wished she had someone to talk to about what she was going through. In the 15 years we have been running we have made and lost quite a few members but some of their partners remain part of the group. That is the hard part, making and losing friends, but the support that Jean so wanted and could not get has been there for the last 15 years to help other people. She was the type of person who would have appreciated that.
Raising money in memory of my loved ones
It’s made me feel so good to know I am raising money to help the work that Asthma + Lung UK do to fund research and support for people like Jean, my mother Jane, and David.
I will be doing my last physical challenge for mesothelioma research in August when I will reach my 80th birthday. I hope to average 8 miles a day walking a total of 250 miles and peddling 550 miles on my exercise bike, totalling 800 miles all together. As well as my birthday, our wedding anniversary is the 30 August. I hope it will be a fitting tribute to Jean who died in 2009 just about 7 weeks after our 40th anniversary.
I was married to Jean for just over 40 years, we had plans to retire and explore the British Isles. She has missed so much of the grandchildren. She used to love going to see them in school plays, so I have made sure that I continue to go. I know that she is there with me.
I think if you have a good marriage and you’re close, then parts of your partner rub off on you. And I think the better parts of me come from Jean.
Fundraising in memory of a loved one is a special way to celebrate their life. If you feel inspired to to fundraise for us, find out more about all the different ways you can support us in memory of your loved one.
This story was originally published 23 February 2022 and updated July 2025.