A Southfields man is close to fulfilling the dying wish of his brother to raise £50,000 for blood cancer charity Bloodline.
Kamal Aftab died aged 33 on August 7 last year after a six-week battle against Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
Kamal, pictured above after a round of chemotherapy, was a mentor, fundraising champion, and optometrist.
After finding out he had leukaemia and only a 50 per cent chance of surviving, Mr Aftab decided to do a full 26-mile marathon from his 5x5sqm hospital room and raise £50,000 for Bloodwise.
At the time of his death he was about 10-miles into his pedometer-powered marathon and had raised £15,000.
Kamal’s brother, Farooq Aftab, who lives in Gressenhall Road, Southfields and is a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Morden, 35, said: "We are on £46,000 at the moment and we are hoping to reach the £50,000 target as soon as possible.
"We are trying to raise awareness through social media and have also organised one kilometre runs and walks. Two ladies did a one kilometre walk backwards to help raise money."
A charity dinner hosted by Humanity First was recently held at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden to remember Kamal.
"At the dinner they named one of their projects after him and Farooq revealed an eye clinic in Burkina Faso, West Africa has also been named after Kamal.
Kamal spent more than a decade as a youth mentor in various voluntary capacities.
He also organised store collection for a great number of charities and stood shoulder to shoulder with World War II veterans selling poppies.
He was voted ‘National Guardian Volunteer of the Year’ for 2014-2015 for his voluntary work.
Kamal’s younger brother, Yousef Aftab, said: "He would help people cross the road, arrange drivers to transport the elderly at Christmas to see family and friends, clear hospital and nursing home drives when it snowed, clean up fly tipping sites in the area, take toys and chocolates to children hospices and wards and drive hundreds of miles to help flood victims."
To read more about Kamal and to support his campaign, visit https://www.justgiving.com/hospitalchallenge
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