When he was diagnosed with terminal cancer at the age of 31, Iain Liam Ward was sure of one thing: he would not let the disease define him.
The Irishman, who lives in London, was taking part in a voluntary medical trial in 2019, when doctors found a cancerous tumor growing in his brain.
With only five years of life, the physical trainer decided to take advantage of his final years, run marathons and raise as much money as possible for charity.
‘I have a short lifespan. “I was dealt a bad hand, but there are ways I can use that,” he told the New York Post.
In the five years since his diagnosis, Iain, now 35, has completed 15 marathons, all while undergoing treatment.
“The goal is to do things that are not (typically) stereotypical for people with cancer,” he told the Post.
‘The things that make people say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, I’m not supposed to be doing that!’ He’s supposed to be in bed, looking sad.
Now he says he wants to “use cancer against himself” and break the world record for the most money raised for charity by a single person. To do so, he will have to beat the current record of £32,796,1455 held by the late captain Sir Tom Moore.
Iain Liam Ward, also known as thekingofchemo, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2019
So far, Iain has raised £164,263 through his GoFundMe and £49,100 directly for the American Cancer Society.
Instead of asking for donations, Iain asks people to follow him on social media and explains that he will use his online presence to convince corporations to pay him to advertise their products while he runs marathons.
More than 5.4 million people follow his inspiring journey on TikTok, where he posts uplifting videos under the username thekingofchemo, earning him the TikTok Voice of Change award last week.
It’s a remarkably cheerful outlook for someone who was told he was facing a terminal illness in his early thirties.
Just two weeks after turning 31, an MRI revealed that fitness trainer Iain had a tumor in his left temple lobe.
After undergoing surgery that required him to be awake, he was confirmed to have stage three brain cancer, which generally has a life expectancy of five years.
Instead of asking for donations, Iain asks people to follow him on social media and explains that he will use his online presence to convince corporations to pay him to advertise their products.
The Irishman has dedicated the rest of his life to ‘using cancer against himself’ and breaking the world record for the most money raised for charity by a single person.
As he lay in his hospital bed, the young man looked up the current fundraising record for running a marathon and decided he was going to beat it.
The record is held by Steve Chalke, a Briton who raised £2.3 million for Oasis UK by completing the London Marathon in 2011.
Iain initially set out to break this record by running and cycling 32 half marathons in each of Ireland’s 32 counties.
Explaining his unconventional fundraising tactic to kind soulHe said: ‘I never wanted to beg people for money. All I want people to do is follow me and support me.
“And in turn, I have found that by gaining followers, the sponsorships offered by brands continue to grow, so so far it seems to be paying off.”
Iain says he puts “the FUN in fundraising, the CAN in CANCER and the KING in marketing”.
After completing 32 half marathons in 32 counties, Iain took his mission overseas and cycled across the United States with a camera crew following him to document the journey.
Ultimately, Iain hopes to sell the series to a streaming platform like Netflix, which can then be used to raise even more money for charities.
In November this year, the Irishman completed The Great World Race by running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days, starting in Wolf’s Gang, Antarctica, and finishing in Miami, Florida.
Upping the ante, Iain now plans to run 52 miles (the equivalent of a double marathon) in each of Europe’s 52 countries and territories in 52 weeks, amounting to 2,704 miles in total.
On his GoFundMe page, Iain said he will “take a very long break” after this feat before completing the same effort in all 50 US states with two weeks in Canada and Mexico to bring the number of locations to 52.
He plans to bring the documentary filmmakers back with him, as well as his entire team.
But Iain also writes that these challenges are simply “warm-ups” as his ultimate goal is to circumnavigate the world “by manpower alone” – that is, swimming, cycling and running around the world.
In November this year, the Irishman completed The Great World Race by running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.
Iain began this impressive feat in Wolf’s Gang, Antarctica (pictured) and finished in Miami, Florida.
Iain described the Great World Race as a “warm-up” and revealed his ultimate goal is to circumnavigate the world using only manpower.
Detailing his plan on GoFundMe, Iain wrote: “London-Australia swimming the canal, cycling to the Himalayas, running through them, kayaking the islands of Indonesia, crossing Australia doing a U-turn from Sydney, through China, across the Bering Strait.” .
‘Through Alaska, to Argentina, then the second U-turn back through Brazil, the east coast of the US and Canada to the Arctic Circle (hopefully not all the polar caps have melted ).
‘Then through Greenland, Iceland and possibly finishing with the most dangerous and difficult part of the trip: crossing the Atlantic to touch Irish soil and cross the entire country to Dublin.
‘Embrace the mothership, shake my dad’s hand firmly. And have a well-deserved pint of vitamin G in the shop while I think about what psycho task I’m going to perform next.
It’s no surprise that the 35-year-old won this year’s TikTok award for Voice for Change, with his signature golden crown still firmly placed on his head.
In his acceptance speech, Iain said: ‘In a room of great influence and impact, I am challenging the stereotype of terminal brain cancer.
‘I am determined to make a difference and beat that fundraising record.
‘The amount of power you have in your hands right now is significant; all it takes is the click of a button to change lives.’
Iain won TikTok’s Voice for Change award at the UK TikTok Awards ceremony on December 3 in London, with his signature crown still firmly placed on his head.
Looking ahead, Iain hopes to break the record for the most money raised for charity by a single person.
It is currently occupied by Captain Sir Tom Moore, who walked 100 lengths of his 82ft garden during the NHS lockdown.
In a recent TikTok video, viewed by over 440,000 people, Iain asked a unique question to summarize his ultimate fundraising goal.
He said: ‘Cancer doesn’t take a break from killing people, so why should I take a break from killing cancer?’