Tauranga's Andy Kirk is running the 2022 Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Marathon this morning in honour of a family member who died from pancreatic cancer.

It's the third time he's entered the marathon, raising funds and awareness for New Zealand's Gut Cancer Foundation, each time running for a different family member who has sadly succumbed to the same disease. To support Andy click here

'This will probably be my last marathon,” says Andy.

'The reason I'm doing it is that in 2012 my mum died from pancreatic cancer. Five years later my dad died from pancreatic cancer. A year and a half after my father, my brother passed away from pancreatic cancer.”

Andy Kirk. Photo: Supplied.

Andy says this type of cancer can be hereditary 'but normally it's not”.

'It's pretty unheard of.”

Andy has one remaining brother, a senior radiographer, who is living in the UK.

'He's the brains of the family,” says Andy.

'When my mum first got diagnosed I was talking with him about it. He said she will probably die within three to four months as it's so aggressive. I went back to the UK to be with her for the first couple of times that she had chemotherapy. She was so sick with it that she didn't want a second dose. They said it won't cure her but will give her a bit more length of time.”

Andy says his mother, June Kirk, lived for about another six months after she was first diagnosed.

'I went back and saw her, she was very frail.”

June was 69 when she died. Andy had been a refrigeration engineer in the UK when his mother first suggested to him to pursue the same job in New Zealand. He's now been here 15 years.

'For a start my mum said to me ‘I see on TV they are looking for refrigeration engineers in New Zealand', and it sowed a seed,” says Andy. 'I made enquiries and found refrigeration engineers were one of the number one trades needed. I worked out my points, had a phone interview and they said come across.

'After being here about five to six years my parents came across and she said to me she can see why I had emigrated.”

Andy Kirk. Photo: Supplied.

Five years after June died, Andy had a phone call once again. This time his brother told him that it looked like their father Geoff Kirk may have pancreatic cancer.

'I went with him to see the surgeon. I thought he might be okay if he's strong enough, but the surgeon said it looks like it has spread, possibly to his liver,” says Andy.

'He had a little spot on his liver and he would have had three months. This was in October. He lasted until March the following year, 2017.”

Andy Kirk. Photo: Supplied.

The death of their father, in his late 70s, was a shock to the three brothers.

'That was bad enough, but it would have been in April or May of the next year and I got a call from my radiographer brother to say that our other brother Rob had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer,” says Andy.

Rob was only 50.

'They thought he might be all right because they had caught it soon enough for whipple surgery – where they take away part of the pancreas which has the cancer – it's a nasty operation.

'So I went back to the UK and stayed with him as he had to travel to the medical centre. After surgery, the surgeon said we couldn't do anything as the cancer had wrapped itself around a major artery. They made him comfortable, he lasted about two months and passed away in October 2018.”

The loss of mother, father and brother all within six years of each other was the main catalyst galvanising Andy to do something meaningful that would shine a light of awareness on cancers of the gut, as well as help raise funds. And people around him spurred him on too.

'A friend motivated me to get running again. I only did 8kms but really enjoyed it. Then I started increasing my distances and noticed my fitness level increasing. In January on a 20km run, I thought to myself ‘why don't I train and compete in a marathon?' Looked online and decided the Auckland Marathon in November would give me loads of time to train. Also thought it would be great to run for charity, and as soon as I saw the Gut Cancer Foundation had a team, I joined straight away.”

The Gut Cancer Foundation funds innovative research and provides vital information and education to improve and save the lives of New Zealanders affected with cancer.

With over 5,700 New Zealanders diagnosed every year, gut cancers are the most common form of cancer in New Zealand. Gut cancers are those cancers that affect the digestive system. Also known as gastro-intestinal cancers they include the bowel, pancreas, stomach, oesophagus, liver, gallbladder, bile ducts and anus.

The organisation say that 15 New Zealanders a day are diagnosed with a gut cancer and sadly over half of those diagnosed will not survive beyond five years. Urgent funding is needed to help improve survival rates, life expectancy and outcomes for this group of cancers of the digestive tract.

'I joined up with the Gut Cancer Foundation because they try and raise awareness for all cancers but also gut cancers.”

His first marathon in 2020 he ran in honour of his brother Rob.

'In some ways the Covid lockdown was good because it got my training off to a good start. I managed to go for a few runs to keep fit. But after that marathon I said never again because it's quite painful.”

But his partner persuaded him.

'She said ‘why don't you do three of them, one for each member of your family that died?' So the second one was for my mum. And this last one in 2022 is for my dad.”

Andy Kirk. Photo: Supplied.

In each marathon, Andy has had a picture of the member of the family he's running for transferred on to his tee shirt. Carrying their image is a big part of how he has honoured them.

'My parents weren't old but getting older. When my brother died that hit me the most. He celebrated his 51^st birthday in hospice,” says Andy.

'The second marathon was harder than the first. It was supposed to be in October 2021, but got postponed until the end of January because Auckland was in lockdown again. At 6am on the morning of the January marathon it was about 18 degrees. By the time we finished the temperature was in the high 20s. I was gasping for a beer after.”

Preparing for the third marathon has had a different challenge.

'About a month ago I got Covid. My watch tells me my heart rate and it's now ten beats higher than when I caught it. I'm still not back to my fitness that I was before Covid.”

Originally he planned to try run the 2022 marathon in four hours.

'But now [after having Covid a few weeks ago] just finish. The timing of catching Covid was real crap as I was just bumping up my training for the long runs. I always do a long run on a Sunday and got up to 28 km. The next week I got Covid and couldn't do any running. After Covid I managed 20km but it was nasty. Last week I managed to do 26km. It's slowly coming back but the level's not quite there yet. Ideally another month would have been good.”

Andy Kirk talks about hearing his brother had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Video: Gut Cancer Foundation.

Andy says the organisers expected wet weather for the 2022 marathon.

'This year with all the training, I've done quite a bit of rain training. It's been raining a hell of a lot when I've been doing my runs so hopefully I'm used to it. We've been told to put Vaseline everywhere because of blisters, because it will be wet, so more chaffing.”

Andy says the Gut Cancer Foundation have also provided tips for running marathons to the 30-40 people running as a team for the organisation.

'Gut Cancer have been really good. After the race they are providing massages for all the people running for them. Some are doing 11kms or the half marathon to raise funds for Gut Cancer.”

Unfortunately Andy's partner had to stay back in Tauranga to look after his two dogs.

'They are SPCA dogs and one of them doesn't like people. They only like me, my partner and a dog sitter, but the dog sitter has moved to Matamata.”

Andy, who lives at The Lakes in Tauranga, is asking the Bay of Plenty community to get behind him and support his marathon effort by giving to his donation page which is raising funds for the Gut Foundation. He's appreciative of those who have already shown support.

'As a refrigeration engineer, I work for Technicool Refrigeration in Third Avenue. I'm very grateful to them, they've been supportive of my training and did a big donation towards the Gut Cancer Foundation. They also bought me my tee shirt and put all the logos on it as well. That was good of them,' says Andy.

After the race his plan is to head back to his room, have a quick shower, then 'hit the Viaduct and have a couple of Guinness”.

'I haven't had a drink for the last month while training.”

Andy is asking people to help him raise funds for the Gut Cancer Foundation.

'Your support will enable New Zealanders with gut cancers access to new treatments sooner and support researchers to discover better ways to detect, diagnose and treat gut cancers. Alongside this, ensuring that the causes and symptoms of gut cancers are better understood so people seek help sooner,” says Andy on his donation page.

To support Andy and help raise funds for Gut Cancer Foundation please click here

'Thank you. I really appreciate your support,' says Andy.