THE son of late Nambucca Valley pharmacist John Mills, who died from a heart attack in July, will lace up the boots to run 42km next month in honour of his father.

Daniel Mills has registered to run in the 2022 Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival while raising funds for the Heart Foundation following his father’s passing.

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John died in July having worked more than six decades as a registered pharmacist.

More than 30 of those were spent working in the Nambucca Valley.

Daniel’s fundraising target has already been exceeded twice since it was launched on Friday.

He has now set a new target of $3,500, however this may need to be revised again as his current tally sits at nearly $3000 with still a month to go before the race on October 2.

Daniel said a gruelling training regime, which has seen him put in more than 60km weeks recently, will hopefully have him ready for race day.

“Two weeks ago I ran a half marathon in Forster and halfway through that I started to cry,” Daniel told News Of The Area.

“The race gave me an opportunity to think and reflect on some fond memories of my old man.

“Those thoughts gave me that extra impetus to push even harder and progress to a full marathon.

“It has been a bucket list goal of mine, and I can’t think of a better way to achieve it than by using Dad’s memory to make it happen.”

John’s family, with the support of the Nambucca Valley Lions Club, will also be holding a memorial gathering at the Nambucca Heads RSL Club on Sunday 25 September to honour John.

“As we had a small private family funeral, this will be a nice way to give people an opportunity to gather in an informal way to celebrate his life,” Daniel said.

To donate to the Heart Foundation and Daniel’s marathon cause, head to
https://melbmara2022.grassrootz.com/heart-foundation/john-mills-marathon-fundraiser.