A YOUNG Bolton man who never forgot his schoolfriend who died of leukaemia is to run the Manchester Marathon to help other sufferers of the disease.

Christopher Burke, who has battled against asthma all his life, is now 18. He moved from Radcliffe to Little Lever after junior school and quickly became fast friends with another new boy, Simon Studholme.

But Simon, of Churchill Drive, Little Lever, was to die, aged 13, just two years later. His parents, Ray and Denise Studholme, fight a continuing battle to have his death examined, claiming surges of electricity passed through their son's bed as he slept, his head close by a meter and the wall of his room next to an electricity sub-station.

Chris was very much affected by his mate's death, says now: "I have never forgotten how he died. It is hard to lose a best mate when you are so young."

From infancy, Chris had his own health problems - asthma, which meant a childhood in and out of hospital, susceptible to every change in the weather; sometimes even laughing at Sooty on children's television would land him in the children's ward.

As a child, he desperately wanted to swim in races but was incapacitated by lack of breath, so he began making short runs to the corner shop near his Booth Road home in Little Lever. By working at it, Chris found he could make his sprints last longer and longer, thereby stretching his lungs and helping his condition.

He now says: "Running has done my health a lot of good. If I stop running, I have trouble breathing, because the exercise helps expand my lungs."

Now employed by Kwiksave in Little Lever, he has made several runs with Bolton Athletic Club and with his parents, Mike and Vi. But nothing as ambitious as a 26-mile-plus marathon.

Chris is now gathering sponsors for the run, from Heaton Park, Prestwich, to near Wythenshawe Park, Manchester, on Sunday, October 13. His effort will be made in memory of Simon and the money he raises will go to the Foundation for Children with Leukaemia, which is based in Great Ormond Street, London, and chaired by Mr Eddie O'Gorman, who lost both a son and a daughter to the disease.

Chris said: "I have no idea how much we can raise." Simon's parents are supporting him, and his brother and sister, 15-year-old twins Philip and Rachel, have taken sponsor forms into Little Lever School. Chris and Simon's former teacher, Mrs Tessa Slingsby, is also helping the effort.

Mrs Slingsby said: "Simon was in my form and I became very close to him when he had leukaemia . . . it was a terrible thing, an absolute waste of life. He was a lovely boy."

Chris will make his Marathon run - with his tablets and inhalers to hand - to mark the pitifully short life of his school pal and to help other sufferers from leukaemia. And he says: "I'll be fine; I'll be OK."

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