IT IS a marathon effort spanning four cities in four days.

Taking to the streets of Southampton, 41-year-old John Hammond has completed his second marathon in as many days before heading off to Essex and London this weekend.

The Wirral runner is used to raising funds for two children with brain cancer in his home borough, but after discovering the story of six-year-old Zoe Donneaud of Sholing, he decided to make his fundraising effort a national one.

With a target of £2,000, John is halfway through completing four marathons in four days.

John said: “I do a lot of running back home and of course the condition DIPG is quite rare, so when I heard about Zoe I had to try and help out where I could.”

John had never met Zoe, or her parents Emilie and Sylvain, who works at Southampton Solent University, before he embarked on his run.

DIPG is a form of rare brain cancer, that is currently incurable, and Zoe was diagnosed in 2016.

Only ten per cent of children diagnosed with DIPG survive for two years, and less than one per cent for more than five years. The average is nine months.

As previously reported, Zoe and her mum Emilie Lefrançois, who is French, have been travelling to Mexico for a form of treatment and doctors have said that the density of Zoe’s tumour, on her brain stem, has decreased.

John said: “They are travelling to Mexico quite often I believe, so they need a lot of money for that. It’s a rare disease and we need to do everything we can.

“If this helps them even slightly, I’ll have done my job.”

Emilie, 38, said she was grateful for John’s help, and that the profile of Zoe’s case has risen over the past six months. French President Emmanuel Macron has even written to them.

Emilie said: “In autumn last year, French footballer Andre-Pierre Gignac heard about Zoe’s case, and when he realised the money we need, he decided to help us. We had shirts from Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and boxing gloves from Mike Tyson. I am going to cry, but it raised £200,000 for us. People might think that means we have all of that money, but that can only be used for medical treatment, not for travel or accommodation for Mexico, so we are still so incredibly grateful for John and his help.”

Emilie and Zoe travel out to Mexico every six weeks for a fortnight.Every chemotherapy course costs £8,700 with medical fares costing £3,800 and flights £2,000. They will return to Mexico on April 18. To donate, visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/hammo76.