Runner asks for islanders’ help to fight bowel cancer
A MAN who has lived in Guernsey for six years and made a name for himself in the long-distance running community has had to return to Italy to receive critical medical treatment.
Francesco Musardo is 37 and moved to the island with his partner, Loly, six years ago to work in finance.
After an initial misdiagnosis in 2018, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer in early 2019.
This rapidly became very serious, reaching stage 4 and he required emergency surgery in February 2019 followed by four rounds of chemotherapy.
‘Sadly, since that time I have had two further recurrences and I am now in desperate need of financial support in the hope to be able to treat myself with a combination of natural and conventional treatments,’ he explained.
Mr Musardo has decided to set up a JustGiving page to help fund these treatments with the help of family, friends and well-wishers.
He has a keen interest in running and was a member of a Guernsey running group, Distance.gg, and ran long-distance races up to 100km. He also completed a 24-hour race on the track at Footes Lane in 2018 where he came joint second, completing 117km.
‘At their latest organised race, the V1000, the club honoured me by naming a cup after me (the Francesco Musardo Trophy for the bravest competitor) inspired by my bravery and sternness shown over the past couple of years in dealing with this horrible disease. I was honoured to personally pick the winner and hand the trophy to her myself. I have made great friendships in Guernsey, some who we now call family.’
Mr Musardo and his partner are now returning to his hometown of Veglie (Lecce) in Italy to be close to family and continue the healing journey from there without having to worry about work for a while but they hope one day to return to their beloved Guernsey.
‘My condition is very serious but I am very determined to beat it once again and return to health and out running,’ Mr Musardo said.
‘My goal is also to keep everyone informed as to my progress and share the knowledge gained about treatments options I will gain along this journey with the people of Guernsey and elsewhere.’
n The link to his JustGiving page is: https://bit.ly/3hBV2pL
