Pontefract sports teacher to take on endurance challenges for cancer
A Pontefract sports teacher who was diagnosed with cancer is going to take on a series of challenges to raise money to battle the disease.
Danny Milnes received the news last year but has since had an operation is now cancer-free.
He is now planning to take on two challenges a year, beginning within a 42km run, to raise money for Yorkshire Cancer Research and Maggie’s Centre at St James’ Hospital.
Danny, who teaches at New College Pontefract, said: “When I was told I had cancer, I don’t remember much of what was said after that word. It all blurred. I nodded, listened, tried to take it in — but inside I was broken instantly.
"Not just of what might happen to me, or how bad it might be but of what it would do to the people I love.
“The hardest part wasn’t always the physical side. It was the mental battle that came quietly and stayed. The waiting. The scans, bloods after bloods, the hospital rooms that start to feel familiar.
"Putting on a brave face because I wanted my kids to see me as okay and not know, even on the days I felt anything but. Smiling through because I didn’t want cancer to steal that from them too as well as my wife.
“I went through this late last year, and it changed me. It showed me how life is too short and we need to enjoy our loved ones more, slow down, be more within the room when we are in it.”
On March 28 Danny will be joined by a close group of friends to take on the 42km dash .
He said: “We’ll push our bodies and our minds in honour of everyone who has faced cancer — including those who are still fighting and those we’ve lost.
“Later in the year, we’ll hold a second event, open to anyone who wants to stand with us and be part of this."
He said the project was a way to turn something painful into something positive to give back hope.
"Cancer takes too much. It took my lovely late mother-in-law and others I know and it leaves marks on families that never fully fade,” he said.
Visit ncpontefract.ac.uk for more information.