THE mother of a York man who died last year will run this weekend’s 10k in his memory.

Danny Tozer lived with autism and epilepsy and was part of York Athletics club disability group for more than two years, and completed the York 10k in 2014 and 2015 to raise money for charities which support disabled and marginalised people.

Danny suffered an epileptic seizure at his assisted living house in Bishopthorpe last September. He was on life support for more than 24 hours, and although he did not survive, his organ donations helped save the lives of five other people.

This Sunday - on what would have been Danny’s 37th birthday - his mother Rosie will run the 10k as part of a team of six to raise money for Autistica, a charity which campaigns for better medical understanding of the causes of autism, improved diagnosis, and new treatments.

York Press:

Danny Tozer

Mrs Tozer, who lives in Elvington, said: “We are so proud of Danny and because it’s his birthday, we’re running to carry on the good work he did.

“In Danny’s life he often didn’t get the opportunity to do things he might enjoy, people had low expectations because he couldn’t talk about what he wanted to achieve, but we’re proud he was able to prove he was good at running and helped others to do that.”

Mrs Tozer paid tribute to her son’s energy and enthusiasm, and said he loved to run. He had been in good health prior to his collapse, which happened just weeks after his most recent 10k success.

She said: “I was absolutely proud to see him get round the 10k.

“He enjoyed his running and had plenty of stamina. That’s why it was such a shock when he died. We thought Danny was physically very tough, but under the circumstances, he couldn’t recover.”

York Press:

Danny, left, during the 2015 run

Mrs Tozer will run alongside Barry Dean, a support worker who helped support Danny, along with Lindsey Piercey, Ruth Merriman, Ruth’s son and his partner.

She said: “I’m well into my sixties, so it was quite a struggle for me to start running.

“I think the chaps are looking forward to it. They want to do it in under an hour, but the rest of us say we will probably walk a bit. We’re not worried about the times; we just want to get through it and give it a go to try and raise some money in Danny’s memory.”

A spokeswoman for Autistica said: “We are so grateful that Rosie has chosen to run the York 10k in fitting tribute to her son, Danny who took part in the same race previously.

“It’s so admirable that she and her friends are raising funds to support Autistica to give other autistic people the chance to live long, healthy and happy lives.”

To donate in Danny’s memory or sponsor the team, go to justgiving.com/fundraising/York10k-TeamDanny