Mortimer brothers tackle marathon for their mum‘s bowel cancer fight

Two country football brothers will take on a marathon this pre-season to raise funds for bowel cancer after their mother had “no idea” she had it until a “lucky” test.

After a lucky test detected and led to immediate treatments of bowel cancer for a Birregurra mother of four late in 2022, her two sons have since taken inspiring action.

Mortimer brothers Tom, 24, and Mike, 21, will undertake the Trail Run Australia Marathon in the Snowy Mountains on February 24 with hopes of raising more than $20,000 to go towards bowel cancer research.

It comes after their mother, Jackie Mortimer, made a wise decision to get a check after receiving a letter in the mail which advised those aged over 50 to get a bowel screening test every two years.

A positive test result led to a colonoscopy examination of the 56-year-old’s bowels through a tiny camera which confirmed that there was cancer.

Tom and Mike Mortimer with mother Jackie just before she was discharged from hospital. Picture: Supplied.

Mike described it as “a fluke” and was grateful her mother did the tests which discovered the cancer early.

“She has been well,” Mike said.

“Lucky they found it at stage 1 which is where there is a very high chance of eliminating it completely at the first treatment.

“The awareness and the money that we want to raise goes into research into how to catch it early and prevent people from having it picked up at stage three or four where the cancer can spread.”

Brothers Mike and Tom, who play footy together for Birregurra in the Colac and District Football League, have raised more than $6000 since the fundraiser began on January 18.

The pair formerly played for Drysdale in the town they grew up in as a family.

It was only recently that the family moved to their new home in Birregurra where Jackie is recovering after being discharged from hospital on January 20 following a four-week treatment.

She will get a screening in two months to see if the cancer has completely cleared.

Jackie Mortimer. Picture: Supplied.

Mike said her mother was feeling good at home and mentioned how pleased she was to see the fundraiser.

“She just really wanted to get the word out and get people tested because, as it was for her, she had no idea until after she got tested,” he said.

“But the actual money coming into the fundraiser and everything has been unbelievable for her.

“It makes her pretty happy because she didn’t tell many people so it’s been a really good support for her.”

Mike said the idea came about from his older brother Tom who previously raised money for a mental health charity.

“My brother (Tom) did a marathon in 2020 and raised around $2000 for mental health and then we were sort of always talking about doing a marathon together in 2022,” he said.

“I was umming and ahhing and then when mum got sick, Tom said to me ‘let’s do a marathon’ and I thought this would be a great reason to do it for her.

Brothers Tom and Mike Mortimer.

“And to get people behind it because there is not much awareness or money that goes in bowel cancer research and the foundation that we are going with are pushing that really well.

“The first night it went mad, we got over $4,000 worth of donations in the first hour which was unbelievable.

“All the messages, all of the support has been unbelievable.”

The brothers have been running up to 60km a week in preparation for the marathon which consists of 846m of elevation gain and a total distance of 42.2km.

Mike said the support has helped keep him motivated to train and push through the challenge.

“It’s been a bit hard trying to motivate yourself but since we have released the page and started to raise money, it’s definitely been a lot easier having people behind you,” he said.

The funds raised will go towards the Cabrini Monash University Department of Surgery who are constantly looking for ways to personalise bowel cancer treatment and reduce the impacts for bowel cancer survivors.

Donate to the fundraiser here.