News / Vasculitis
Running to raise £12,000 in memory of his best friend
An Ashton Gate employee has set himself a mammoth challenge of raising thousands, so he can build awareness around an inflammatory disease that ended his best friend’s life.
After Max Wilshaw lost his friend, Mike Geroge Harris, in September 2023 to Vasculitis – a disease many in their close circle had never even heard of – Wilshaw started looking for ways to better support the community.
“I’ve never really ran before”, Wilshaw said. “I basically made the decision to start training and on the 23rd of December 2023 I decided to start running and then I booked myself for the Bristol half marathon last year and I raised over £4,400.”
Following a short break after the marathon, Wilshaw realised that he wanted to “push the boat out a bit more” and took up the challenge of raising £12,000 in 12 months. This meant that starting October 2024, Wilshaw would participate in four to five events and by the end of it to have raised thousands for the awareness and cause of Vasculitis.
Harris was also godfather to both of Wilshaw’s sons – photo: Max Wilshaw
So far, Wilshaw has ran the Manchester half marathon and ran the Doynton half marathon that took place near Bath. In the coming weeks, the group facilities manager for Bristol Sport will run the London half marathon, virtually.
Explaining what that means, he said: “It’s called the London Marathon MyWay.
“I wasn’t successful in the ballot to run the marathon but what they did was send me a link to my way. You can run a marathon distance in Bristol or wherever you live, you can actually get a medal and a T-shirt to say that you’ve completed the London Marathon.”
Wilshaw will be running on the same day as the marathon in London, April 27, but unlike runners competing in London, Wilshaw will be able to complete his marathon here at home in Bristol.
He insisted that Harris would do the same for him if their places were switched.
“I think he’d be proud. Mike used to be the guy that used to be raising the money for people, he used to be the guy that was doing the challenges, he used to be the guy that was on his bike, used to be the guy that was running marathons – Mike was the most supportive person in our group of friends.
“And this is about him. If he was in my position, this is what he would be doing.
“I recognised that amongst our group of friends, it was really important for us to have something to focus on and people have been really supportive.”
The father of two also outlined that the low awareness about Vasculitis meant Harris wasn’t initially “supported in the right way”. He added: “Ask your friend if they know what Vasculitis is and they won’t.
“They won’t know what it is and that was something that Mike had to deal with when he got diagnosed with it because the support mechanism around doctors and hospitals – they couldn’t really support him in the right way.
“So you know it’s really important for me to make sure that actually there is a bit of discussion about Vasculitis and there are other people out there who suffer from it. There’s lots of people who suffer with it in different ways.”
Wilshaw hopes that his efforts in Harris’ memory will “increase the discussion” around the rare disease.
Vasculitis is a rare inflammatory disease that is known to affect about 2,000 to 3,000 people in the UK every year. The disease involves inflammation of blood vessels that could affect any part of the body.
Main photo: Great Bristol Run / Max Wilshaw
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