{"id":38505,"date":"2025-04-21T14:13:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T14:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/38505\/"},"modified":"2025-04-21T14:13:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T14:13:15","slug":"terminally-ill-teacher-with-over-50-tumours-to-run-london-marathon-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/38505\/","title":{"rendered":"Terminally ill teacher with over 50 tumours to run London Marathon | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A music teacher who has been given less than a year to live hopes to cross the finish line at the London Marathon<\/a> one last time next Sunday. Nathaniel Dye, 38, has stage four bowel cancer<\/a> which has spread throughout his body, including to his brain, lungs and liver.<\/p>\n

The assisted dying<\/a> campaigner said his latest challenge is yet more evidence that terminally ill people like him are \u201canything but suicidal\u201d and simply want control over their deaths when they reach a point of no return. He added: \u201cNo one can accuse me of wanting to give up on life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathaniel was offered a place in this year\u2019s race after being honoured with a Spirit of the London Marathon Award for his efforts last year. He completed the 26.2 mile course in five hours and 49 minutes \u2014 while playing the trombone.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel said: \u201cI genuinely don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen on race day. I\u2019ve lost a lot of fitness, gained a lot of weight and I\u2019ve got at least 50 tumours in me somewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m leaving the trombone at home. I\u2019ve got nothing to prove but it\u2019s more likely than not that I won\u2019t be breathing, let alone running, next year, so I may as well go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scans recently revealed that his prognosis had worsened after he began experiencing back pain while on a break from treatments. He is now undergoing gruelling chemotherapy, along with taking steroids and morphine.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel added: \u201cObviously no one has given up, there are some chemo options. But it\u2019s a balance of probability thing. The tumours are growing more quickly, therefore it\u2019s likely to kill me sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The keen runner has completed dozens of marathons, including while training for ultramarathons.<\/p>\n

However, the toll of his disease means his only goal this year is to reach the finish line within the eight-hour time limit. He will be joined for the challenge by his brother Jon, 45.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel, of east London<\/a>, is a passionate campaigner who was awarded an MBE last year for his efforts to raise awareness of cancer.<\/p>\n

He also campaigns for a change in the law on assisted dying, regularly attending rallies and events in Westminster. The Express backs such reform through the Give Us Our Last Rights<\/a> crusade.<\/p>\n

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is due to return to the Commons for debate on May 16.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel, who has followed its progress closely, said November\u2019s debate showed \u201cParliament at its best\u201d. But he fears that those who oppose the bill for ideological reasons, such as religious beliefs, \u201cappear increasingly desperate\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a vocal anti lobby,” he added. “I\u2019m concerned that, for example, there are certain voices who appear to be pitting disabled people against each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m disabled and I feel safe with this bill, because I\u2019m looking at the exact potential law which specifically excludes disabled people who are not terminally ill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noting intensifying attacks on the process of drafting the legislation, and claims that it is being rushed through, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s tactics like that that are worrying me.<\/p>\n

“It strikes me that when the argument is lost, all that\u2019s left to attack is the procedure.\u201d Nathaniel added: \u201cThis is about shortening death, not shortening life, as Kim Leadbeater has said right from the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can accuse me of wanting to give up on life. If I was seriously looking into Dignitas, now would be the time [to go] whilst certain I’m able to travel alone. This is ridiculous. I have plenty of living left to do \u2014 I’m running a marathon in seven days.”<\/p>\n

Nathaniel has raised almost \u00a340,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support in recent years. You can make a donation and help him reach the milestone here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A music teacher who has been given less than a year to live hopes to cross the finish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[2935,2938,452,748,1204,393,4884,257,17450,21966,21967,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-38505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-assisted-dying","9":"tag-assisted-dying-campaign","10":"tag-bowel-cancer","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-cancer","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-london","16":"tag-london-marathon","17":"tag-nathaniel-dye","18":"tag-terminally-ill","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114376370111012204","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}