THE owner of a Bournemouth gym has run 250km over 25 days to raise funds to help a mum who needs £250,000 to fight her brain tumour.

Martyn Lever, owner of Bournemouth gym, Vectis, has run 10k for 25 days with a 10kg weighted bag to help raise funds for Maria Whitlock who needs £250,000 to fight a rare brain cancer with no cure. 

Finishing on May 25, Martyn raised £4000 to go towards helping Maria and invited her down to the gym of which she is a member on the final day. 

He said: "Maria's one of my members and we referred her to the doctors when she started having nose bleeds and problems with her arms and we knew that wasn't right. 

"I knew she having treatment and I saw the effort in the Echo and I thought what can I do with my network of people I know? I came up with running 250km which is the money she needs to raise. 

"I know every member, members all know each other so we're like a family and as a community, we support each other. That's another reason why I did it because who else is going to do it? Who else is going to help?"

Maria was first diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer on New Year's Eve 2023 and on January 24 underwent a craniotomy to remove as much of the tumour. 

She was later told it could never be fully removed and she was given a survival time of 12 to 18 months. 

Martyn said: "The biggest thing for me to take away from this was women need support, a five-pound donation goes a long way and if 10,000 people donated a fiver, it would go far to help her. 

"She came into the gym [on the final day] and I think she felt quite self-conscious and I think it was tough for her to come in as well.

"I think as a community it's brought us together knowing we've got each other's backs."

To donate to Maria, visit her GoFundMe page at https://gofund.me/061e8aca