Denham osteopath raises thousands for Thames Hospice

Jayne Murphy, an osteopath from Denham, lost her husband Cornelius “Con” Murphy three years ago to a vicious cancer affecting his bone marrow.  

The quest to keep her mental health intact after the loss of Con, and soon followed by the death of her brother, and wanting to raise for the “incredible” Thames Hospice who looked after Con during his final days, led her to cycling.

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The 49-year-old said: “I was with Con for 16 years, and ten of those years he had a blood cancer called multiple myeloma, which isn’t a very well-known cancer, but in those ten years he had a lot of treatment and he endured chemotherapy regimes.

“He did ten chemotherapy regimes, four lots of radiotherapy and two stem cell transplants, lots of operations and infections, pneumonia, we went through them all.”

The cancer meant that the athletic and strong former bodyguard to The Prodigy Con couldn’t get out of bed, because his weakened bones were susceptible to breaking.

Con was only 46 when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (Jayne Murphy)

Jayne praised the care given by the Thames Hospice nurses: “He was in a room on his own, and we were allowed to bring things from home to make it as homely for him.

“He was allowed to drink a pint of Guinness, which he loved.

“And I was able to sort out his birthday party – well, a birthday basically – which was a week before he died.

“It was really special.”

Jayne was able to wheel him out to a function room, where all his friends had gathered to say goodbye to him. Two days before Con died, he held three-week-old puppies on his lap a Rennie Grove nurse had brought, and Jayne was allowed to bring their dogs for a visit.

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“It’s such a special place, and they made that horrible transition into one that was, I don’t know what to call it, a positive death?” she said and paused as she looked for the right word to describe the heart-breaking situation.

Con died on April 12 2019 - shortly after the death of The Prodigy singer Keith Flint in March. 

“Once Con passed away at Thames Hospice, I thought 'whatever I’m doing, I need to do for them.' 

"It’s my way of saying thank you.”

Already a runner, she went on the endurance sports journey after a friend’s suggestion, and has since cycled hundreds of miles, including to Suffolk and Paris.

On Saturday, she embarks on her biggest cycling challenge yet, as she heads from Lands End in Cornwall to John O’Groates in Scotland as part of Deloitte Ride Across Britain – a distance of more than 900 miles in nine days.

The challenge is “pretty full on”, as last year it took her a week to recover after a hundred-mile ride, she said.

The enormity of the challenge was beginning to “sink in” now, including Jayne’s fear of sleep deprivation and having to ride in pouring rain, but she was prepared to do it “even with one limb” to raise money for the life-changing charity.

Jayne's fundraiser can be found here.