Giles Cuthbert went viral over the weekend after he was seen running through Marlow high street with a 35-kilogram toilet. There was a good reason behind this unique training regimen by the Flackwell Heath native.
The dad of two was pushing the bog in preparation for his Virtual London Marathon challenge that will take place on Sunday, October 2. The 56-year-old will run the virtual marathon from Bognor Regis Pier to Brighton Pier to raise awareness for Type 1 diabetes.
Cuthbert knows this serious disease fully well, as his two sons have to live with it for the rest of their lives. His eldest son Harvey was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2017 and struggled to get used to taking regular insulin at the start of his treatment.
Cuthbert running for his two sons
The family's woes were compounded when Giles' second son Theo was also diagnosed in February 2020 with Type 1 diabetes, just before he celebrated his 12th birthday, according to Bucks Free Press.
Cuthbert said that he had been spurred on by his sons to do this because they are good boys. He added that they had done well, and as a Dad, he would love to swap places with them, but he can't. He can remind people, though, of what his sons are going through.
Cuthbert said it is a bog because he will be running from Bognor Regis pier to Brighton Pier, as he could not get into the London Marathon. He said that people would see him and chuckle to themselves. He recently had a group on bikes stop him from his run as they took an interest in what he was doing.
Cuthbert set up a fundraising page in the hope of raising £5,000 to help find a cure for Type 1 diabetes. He has raised £650 thus far from generous members of the public.
He said that both of his sons had adapted well to managing their Type 1 diabetes, but the two of them have also experienced frightening times, an example of which was Harvey suffering a seizure in college.
Cuthbert has been raising money for charities for ten years now
Cuthbert and his wife paid their respects to the Queen on Thursday, September 15, when the couple received a call from Theo with their son complaining of pain near his appendix. They called for an ambulance, but it did not arrive until Giles mentioned how their son was a Type 1 diabetic. It was then moved to a Category One call.
Giles said that he just wanted to highlight the hidden dangers when a person has Type 1 diabetes. Theo's appendix was removed the following morning, and he was extremely infected. He struggled to keep down any food, so doctors had to put him on a drip. He had a tube up his nose and into his stomach to drain air and fluid.
Cuthbert has been raising money for charities for almost a decade after he got sick with throat cancer. His mother also has Alzheimer's, and his father has Parkinson's.
