Six Runs. Six Months. One Bat: Richard’s Challenge in Memory of His Wife

In July 2022, Richard Williman’s wife, Erika, died of bowel cancer. She was 51. Their two children, Seb and Alex, were 21 and 13 at the time. 

Now, Richard is honouring her memory by taking on six running events in six months – dressed head to toe in cricket whites and carrying a bat – to raise £10,000 for the Ruth Strauss Foundation. 

“I won’t be as fast as I would perhaps want to be but I’m not doing it for a time,” he says. “I’m doing it to generate discussion and awareness of the work of the foundation.”

Six Runs. One Powerful Message. 

Through sport and significant physical challenges, Richard is raising awareness of the importance of pre-bereavement support and dedicating his efforts to the Ruth Strauss Foundation. Richard’s challenge – known as the Six 6s – includes the following six events: 

Each one is run in full cricket kit – pads, gloves, whites, and bat. 

“I love cricket,” Richard says. “The kit I’ve got is quite lightweight, apart from the bat. The bat’s the really heavy part.”

Before beginning his challenge, he trialled the gear during local training runs. 

“In addition to my training, I’ve also been on a park run in my kit, so I know that I can sort of run in the gear. And people were really interested and asked me what I was doing.” 

And that’s exactly the point – raising visibility, starting conversations, and bringing more people into the work of the Ruth Strauss Foundation. 

The Ruth Strauss Foundation (RSF) was founded in 2019 by former England cricket captain Sir Andrew Strauss, in memory of his wife, Ruth, who died of incurable lung cancer. 

Ruth was a mum of two. She knew how difficult it was to prepare her children for a future without her – and she wanted to make that process better for other families. 

Our mission is to ensure that every family facing the death of a parent from an incurable cancer receives the emotional support they need – especially when children are involved. 

Each year, 46,000 children under 18 in the UK experience the death of a parent or carer. That’s 127 children every day whose lives are changed by the death of someone they depend on.

Richard and Erika believed in being open with their children, even when the conversations were painful. For Richard, one of the most difficult moments was having to explain to Seb and Alex what was happening – and what was coming. 

“I was probably the one that was saying, ‘Are you sure? Should we perhaps try to protect them?’ And she was really clear – ‘No, we need to have that conversation.’ So we did.”

At the Ruth Strauss Foundation, we know from research and experience that children who are given honest, age-appropriate information about a parent’s illness are better able to process what’s happening – both during the illness and after a bereavement.  

“That conversation was incredibly hard, one of the hardest I’ve ever had, but Erika handled it amazingly well,” Richard said in a recent interview with BBC Radio Humberside. “And I’ve seen the positive impact it’s had on the kids. They’ve been able to thrive, not just survive – and that’s a gift she gave our family.”

This kind of support is at the heart of what we do at RSF. When a parent is diagnosed with incurable cancer, grief often begins much earlier. Known as anticipatory grief, this phase can include sadness, fear, guilt and anxiety – not only for the person who is ill, but also for their children, partner and wider family. 

“There’s still a taboo around these conversations. People avoid them because they’re hard, but that doesn’t make them less necessary,” Richard says. “What I’ve experienced is that by being brave enough to talk, we were all able to support each other. That’s what I want to encourage through this challenge.” 

RSF provides guidance and resources to help families, professionals and schools navigate these conversations and offer meaningful support to children and young people before, during and after the death of a parent.