Dr Richard Latten to run London Marathon for Wirral Hospice St John’s

On Sunday 3^rd October, Dr Richard Latten, is going to be running the Virgin Money London Marathon for Wirral Hospice St John’s.

So, we thought with only 3 more months of training to go that it would be a good time to tell you some more about Dr Richard.

In his ‘day job’, he’s as professional as they come. A popular palliative care consultant here in the hospice and at Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH), supporting student doctor wellbeing at the University of Liverpool School of Medicine, a staff governor at WUTH and regional specialty advisor for palliative medicine in the Mersey region for the Royal College of Physicians.

As you can see, he’s a busy man and, he definitely knows his onions!

But, if you ever meet him professionally, or otherwise, you’ll soon know that you are also in the company of one of life’s genuinely good guys!

He’s originally from Norfolk and, in common with famous cook, Delia Smith, and now famous ‘BBC Celebrity Best Home Cook’, Ed Balls, he’s a Norwich City fan.

Oh well, nobody’s perfect!

Caring is in his blood. Dad, Andrew, is a retired GP and Mum, Ann, was a nurse & health visitor. Dr Richard is the epitome of nurture and nature in complete harmony.

He studied medicine at Bristol University and was a junior doctor in Bristol where he met wife, Lynne, and with whom he moved when she took a job as a dietitian at the renowned Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.

Caring is in the whole family!

Sons, Adam, whose birthday is on the day of the London Marathon, and, Ben, can rightly be proud of their Dad who found his vocation in palliative medicine.

In the last couple of years running has become very important to Richard. It has helped him channel emotions which are sometimes a by-product of hospice care consultancy as well as, like everybody else, stress that comes from grief in our own lives.

He explains in his own words his journey to signing up for London;

“I’ve never run a marathon and, before a couple of years ago, wouldn’t have stood a chance of doing so. Back in 2019 I was finding things really tough myself with the challenges of work and other things affecting my mental health.  We’d also been dealing with a family bereavement a few years before, which had a lasting impact on our family.

Joining some of my hospice colleagues, friends and family, in running in our local Parkrun was the turning point in getting myself back on track (prior to the pandemic, Birkenhead Park hosted a 5k weekly run for community participants on a Saturday morning) 

Since that pivotal moment, my running and my mind have improved in parallel. From staggering round that first 5km in Birkenhead Park, I’ve gradually increased my running distance, doing hospice events, ‘Mucky Mudder 5K’and ‘Race around the Wirral’. The latter was during last year’s lockdown.

The hospice is close to my heart for many reasons. It’s a privilege to work alongside my wonderful colleagues, focused on providing the best possible care and support for patients and their families who are going through their own challenging circumstances.

As a charity, the hospice can only continue to provide the vital services to patients and their families through the kind generosity of our whole Wirral community.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to run the London Marathon for the hospice and to help in some way to give back in some way for the support I’ve received.

Thank you for any support you can offer.”

It’s a virtuous circle and every one of Richard’s family, friends, his colleagues and his patients and their families will be wishing him well and, maybe, even kindly sponsoring him to complete his significant challenge for funds for Wirral Hospice St John’s.

Look out for the Mersey Tunnel 10K on 26th September where Richard has signed up as a training run. We’re expecting a number of hospice supporters to cheer him on and maybe one or two will join him on that day through the tunnel!

If you see him on his training runs around Wirral give him a shout of encouragement, because, and this is unequivocal, he’s another genuine hospice hero.

There is a link to sponsor Dr Richard at Virgin Money Giving here https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Richards_London_Marathon

Or, if you want to make a direct payment to the hospice for Dr Richard please give the fundraising team a call on 0151-343-0778 or, email events@wirralhospice.org with your contact details and we’ll get back to you.