'I'm effectively in a race against time... I'm on treatment to give me as much time as I can have with my family'

IN THE days leading up to Cardiff hosting its first European final in more than a decade, former Welsh Rugby Union commercial director Craig Maxwell will be in the midst of another epic fundraising challenge.

- Ben James reports

Over five days, Maxwell and his team will row 72 miles from Tenby to Cardiff ahead of the Champions Cup final between Northampton and Bordeaux, looking to raise more money for vital cancer research.

It's the latest in a series of remarkable challenges by Craig to raise money, having been diagnosed with incurable and inoperable lung cancer back in September 2022.

Maxwell, who also worked as the chief commercial officer for the Six Nations, has thrown himself into fundraising as he looks to leave a legacy that his wife, Tracey, and two children, Isla and Zack, can be proud of.

Since his diagnosis, Maxwell has completed the London Marathon, cycled from Cardiff to Paris and, last year, he walked the entire 780-mile Wales Coast Path in just 26 days, delivering the match ball ahead of Wales’ Six Nations clash with France.

In doing so, he has raised around £1.6m, while the latest challenge has already seen £71,000 donated in the first week alone - a number that, even now, he admits he struggles to get his head around. However, the scale of his latest challenge is something else.

“It’s the toughest by far” Maxwell told the Echo. “When I was diagnosed in 2022, I had three tumours.

“I've now got 11 tumours. What we do every time new tumours arrive, we change my drugs to stop them growing any further. I'm effectively in a race against time.

“I’m on treatment to slow down the spread and give me as long as I can with my family.

“None of the treatments are trying to cure me, it's just trying to give me more time.

“Since January, I've been having chemotherapy.

“I'm on two different types of chemotherapy and a new drug called Amivantamab, which I've had to buy as you can’t get it through the NHS.

“That's cost us nearly £22,000 to buy this drug.

“We've applied now for funding because we can’t afford to continue paying for it and we've proven that it works.