Dad from Hartlepool plans a special tribute to Britain's children battling brain tumours

Watch more of our videos on Shots!
and live on Freeview channel 276

Paul O’Donovan plans to tackle routes in Hartlepool, South Shields, Durham and other parts of the North East in his bid to run around 18 miles a day for the whole of February.

He urged people: “I know I have done some crazy challenges and I am always asking for donations but please dig deep. I will definitely have to.”

His own daughter, Lyla, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2016 when she was only three years old.

Lyla O'Donovan, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour when she was 3, and her dad Paul.

In just over five years, Lyla, who won the Hartlepool Mail Child of Courage Award in 2019, has had 15 operations on her brain.

In the last 24 hours, the nine-year-old has tested positive for Covid-19.

Paul, who hails from Dyke House but now lives in Durham, said: “Every mile ran is for a child who is diagnosed with a brain tumour and the pain these children go through is far worse than the pain I am going to be feeling.”

“All I am asking for is a £2 donation. Each year there are 500 children in the UK who are diagnosed with a brain tumour, and I am going to represent them by running 500 mile in a month.”

Lyla O'Donovan who has spent a quarter of her life in hospital since being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Paul will start on February 1 and he would love people to join him as he gets under way.

He added: “We want to continue to support children like Lyla and give them a special holiday to make memories with there family, but to keep doing this we need your help.

Lyla has undergone life-threatening surgery, battled meningitis, been treated for hydrocephalus and had a shunt put into her head and that’s just in the last five years.

She has her own charity with her big sister Lilley and it is called Lyla and Lilley’s Stars.