Aaron Ramsey to run London Marathon in memory of friend's son Hugh

Fresh from retiring from professional football at 35, Aaron Ramsey will line up for the London Marathon in memory of Hugh Menai-Davis, the six-year-old son of his friend Ceri, who died from rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer.

The run places one of football’s best-known names inside a cause that has become far bigger than sport. Hugh died in September 2021, just days after his sixth birthday, and his parents, Ceri and Frances Menai-Davis of Hertford, responded by creating It’s Never You in March 2022, six months after their loss. Ceri Menai-Davis has said the family wanted to build a “living memory” for Hugh and found purpose in campaigning after his death.

That campaign has since grown into Hugh’s Law, which seeks furlough-style financial support for parents caring for a seriously ill child in hospital for an extended period. The proposal speaks to a gap that many families confront when one parent must stop working for weeks or months while a child undergoes treatment. Ceri and Frances took the case to Downing Street in October 2023, and in February 2024 they met work and pensions minister Jo Churchill and their local MP, Sir Oliver Heald, after the Government showed support for the campaign.

The Menai-Davis family’s advocacy has also shown how grief can be turned into public pressure. In April 2025, Ceri Menai-Davis completed the London Marathon wearing 20kg on his back to represent the “burden of grief” and the responsibility of carrying a child and then living with bereavement. That effort raised more than £50,000 for charity, a striking sum that underlined how personal stories can mobilise donations as well as sympathy.

Ramsey’s involvement adds another high-profile layer to the cause ahead of the 2026 TCS London Marathon on Sunday, April 26. The race drew more than 56,000 runners in 2025 and has become one of Britain’s most powerful fundraising platforms, where celebrity participation can help channel attention toward specific families and policy demands rather than treat charity running as a symbolic gesture alone.

For the Menai-Davises, Hugh’s memory now sits at the centre of both fundraising and reform. The marathon route offers visibility, but the larger aim remains the same: to make life easier for parents pulled into the financial shock of childhood cancer, and to ensure Hugh’s name is tied to lasting change.