THE family of a young Thornbury dad who died of cancer aged 29 are on a mission to raise thousands of pounds in his memory.
Connor Walker died in May last year at his home, the Malthouse in Thornbury High Street, where he lived with his mum, Julie Walker, and her partner, stepfather Mark Wilson, the pub’s former landlords.
He had been diagnosed with melanoma, a form of skin cancer, in 2021 shortly after returning from a holiday to Paris.
To honour his memory his brother Shane and cousin Megan Holmes are taking part in this year’s Paris Marathon, to raise funds for St Peter’s Hospice, which cared for Connor in his final weeks.
Megan, 26, from Frampton Cotterell, and Shane, 35, from Thornbury, will run together in the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris on April 13, after receiving places through St Peter’s Hospice.
Their online donation page had raised more than £7,300 as the Voice went to print.
The money will go towards the charity’s work to provide end-of-life care for patients and their families, both at its Bristol hospice and within their own homes.
Megan (pictured above with Connor and his son Lucas) said: “I was flicking through the Hospice website for ways to raise money, wondering what I could do, and spotted the Paris Marathon entry.
“It immediately struck a chord with me because I knew Connor, who I always called Con, had been to Paris and had loved it and running a marathon’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
“So I texted Shane to see if he was up for it and he said, ‘yeah go on then’, and we were away!”
In 2021, Connor and two friends drove from Bristol to Paris in his transit van to attend the Paris Supercross motocross show, stopping on the way home to ride the Loon-Plage beach motocross track in Dunkirk.
Megan said: “They had all sorts of adventures – driving round and round the Arc de Triomphe, accidentally dining at a posh restaurant and nearly bankrupting themselves, and getting lost and waking up in a dodgy part of town.
“It was his last holiday before he got ill, and it brought him such joy. To run the Paris Marathon in his memory feels like the perfect way to honour him.”
Connor, who leaves a six-year-old son, Lucas (pictured together, top), was diagnosed with melanoma shortly after returning from Paris.
Although he received treatment and briefly went into remission, the disease returned.
‘Incredible’ support from hospice
Megan said: “He was really against going into a hospice. He just wanted to be at home.
“Con’s mum looked after him round the clock and when the time came reached out to St Peter’s Hospice for support at home. It was like the peace in a storm. They were incredible.
“Once they started coming to the house, it gave her some much-needed help and provided support for the rest of the family.
“It was comforting to have someone outside the family whom we could talk to about Con in a calm way and provide a shoulder to lean on.
“Even something as simple as making cups of tea for the many people who came to see him took a weight off the family’s shoulders.”
Connor’s funeral included a procession of 60 motorbikes circling Thornbury and a packed service.
Megan says that when not at work, Connor was most often in his garage fixing up a car or a motorbike.
‘He was someone everybody knew in Thornbury’
She said: “He was someone everybody knew in Thornbury. A real character – the life and soul of the party. A cheeky chappie but someone who would do anything for anybody.
“He always loved pulling things apart and putting them back together again. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix.
“He also adored animals. Over the years he had so many of them – ferrets, rats, guinea pigs, chickens, snakes and budgies – and had a real affinity for them, though they did drive his mum up the wall sometimes!”
Megan says she will be drawing upon Connor for inspiration as she and Shane take on the race.
She said: “It sounds soppy and silly, but when I’m training and it gets hard, I look up at the sky and it gives me the strength to push through and helps me remember why I’m doing it.”
Donations to Megan and Shane’s fundraising appeal can be made online at justgiving.com/team/megandshane.