A County Durham charity runner is on the final push on his mission to run between all 20 Premier League Football Grounds to raise funds and suicide awareness.
The journey of a lifetime for Matthew Smith from Chester Le Street charity If U Care Share who has now departed Old Trafford and the Etihad yesterday (Sunday, August 25) on the final leg of his cross country expedition.
Matthew, 30, took on the run in memory of his brother Daniel O’Hare who was 19 when he unexpectedly took his own life nearly 20 years ago.
His family then set up the If U Care Share Foundation which supports families impacted by suicide and delivers suicide prevention and mental health workshops in football academies and schools.
A target of £135,000 was chosen to represent the number of people impacted by someone taking their own life and so far £30,000 has been raised.
Matthew said: “I feel all right and I’m trying to get through one day at a time and just get to the different end points.
“It is a lot of money and I have set a ridiculous amount to hit and if I don’t reach it I will be gutted.
“But we have still raised an amazing amount of money so far in a relatively short space of time and the awareness it has raised has been brilliant. You can’t put a figure on that.
“We’ve never set a target over six figures before and my original idea was to aim for that amount to take the charity to the next step but then we lost vital funding and the money became even more important because we need it to continue to operate and provide support.
“I know the difference the money will make if we are anywhere near that target and how many lives it will save.”
He added: “The number of people who have shared the information, come out to support us and pledged support has been class and I can’t thank everyone enough.
“I’m still optimistic we will hit the £135,000 target. I still think it’s achievable and it won’t be for the want of trying but I have to try not to think about it.
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“It’s beyond my control and the most important thing is completing the challenge and continuing to raise awareness. We’ve still done something special and reached a lot of people affected by suicide.”
If everything runs on time, Matthew should finish his run at St James' Park on Friday, August 30.
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