Eric Mathias

Throughout his life my dad, Eric, has devoted his time to his 3 daughters. Now we have all grown up and left home, he has had time to pursue other interests, such as fishing and running. He had run a couple of half marathons before being diagnosed with prostate cancer 5 years ago. This prevented him from continuing with his running and, meant that he had to endure gruelling Radiotherapy treament. However, he maintains a positive outlook and is determined to regain his fitness, his ambition is to complete a full marathon. Last year, he had signed up for the Dawn Walk in aid of Macmillan Cancer Care. On the day he was too ill to take part and so completed the walk , on his own, a week later. He always has time to help others. For 14 years he volunteered as first aider for a local youth rugby team. My son does not have a father in his life, my dad takes a partiular interest in everything he does, supporting him with his sporting activities and schoolwork, fishing trips, days out. He recently supported two colleagues who walked the Pembrokeshire Coast Path to raise money for Scope, being their support driver, collecting them at 5am each day, giving encouragement and providing first aid support, not expecting any recognition. He is very supportive of family and friends and is always the first to offer help. He retired in April this year and for him to know that he will be carrying the olympic torch next year would give him something really fantastic to look forward to