12 marathons of Christmas: man braces cold to raise awareness of gynaecological cancers

A man from Birmingham is spending his last few weeks of the year running 12 marathons to raise money for The Eve Appeal.
Credit: ITV Central

A man from Birmingham is spending his last few weeks of the year running 12 marathons to raise money for The Eve Appeal.

He's aiming to raise £10,000 to support the charities work, funding research and raising awareness into the five gynaecological cancers – womb, ovarian, cervical, vulval and vaginal.

Javan Bramhall from Kings Heath has raised £3,000 so far.

He decided to run 12 marathons after his colleague was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer and wants to raise awareness about gynaecological cancers people may not know about.

Javan said: "Gynaecological cancers are probably not as well know as the other cancers but they're still killing an awful lot of women every year and the symptoms are probably things most women would consider maybe relatively normal?

"Just small changes, maybe feeling bloated, maybe a little bit more pain than normal.

"Those kind of things that aren't a big change people kind of leave and then they build up and then all of a sudden you're in this situation.

He goes on to say, "If something is abnormal for you, go and get it checked out because that could save a life.

ITV Central reporter Ravneet Nandra spoke with Javan at Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham just after his 7th marathon

When asked about the extreme cold conditions, Javan said he was prepared for the bitter cold.

"I put maybe three of four layers on before I go out often with a hat and gloves as well.

"I'm having to eat an unbelievable amount of food. I'm burning maybe 3,500 calories every time I go out so eating an awful lot and eating during the run which I'm not used to doing.

"Running around Cannon Hill Park is a bit of a challenge when it'a icy so we've had an y slippery-slide moments. But we stayed safe and avoided any of that.

Javan hopes to hit his £10,000 target here.