An officer who has raised tens of thousands of pounds for charity after being diagnosed with cancer has won the Compassionate Award at the 2025 Devon & Cornwall Police Federation Recognition Awards.

In July 2021, PC Matthew Jeffery was only three months into his police training when he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He underwent radiotherapy and got the all-clear in December that year.

In late 2023, he was told the cancer was back, but that it was at a low level and could be monitored with regular blood tests.

Always a keen runner, PC Jeffery set his sights on taking part in the world’s six major marathons – London, Berlin, Tokyo, Chicago, New York and Boston – all while raising money for cancer research and treatment.

He has so far run five of them (including the London Marathon three years in a row) and has raised £34,500 for charities including Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support.

He said: “London Marathon was always my dream, because I used to watch it on TV – that was special. And I’ll never forget New York. When I got halfway, I looked to my left and saw the Empire State Building, it was just huge.”

PC Jeffrey is now working in response policing Plymouth and has had lots of support from colleagues and the force.

He said: “When I got diagnosed, I just thought: I need to get something positive from this. It was obviously a massive thing that I went through, but when times get tough you’ve got to look for the positives.”

When he heard he’d been nominated for the Federation Award, he said he was shocked: “I’m sometimes hard on myself and think I need to be doing better and better things, but receiving this award means the world.”

Devon & Cornwall Police Federation Chair Katie Clements said: “Matthew is not only compassionate, he’s also incredibly inspirational as we can see.

“It’s amazing that Matthew ran his first marathon less than a year after his cancer diagnosis and that he’s just kept going, raising a huge amount of money for such worthy causes. I know he’s worked many hours fundraising behind the scenes too.”

PC Jeffery will attend the 2025 Devon & Cornwall Police Federation Recognition Awards on Thursday 6 November.

The Devon & Cornwall Police Federation Recognition Awards are in association with Axon.

Also sponsoring the Awards are Niche, Uniform Mortgages, Gallagher, Serve and Protect Credit Union, Warren & Co, The National Police Healthcare Scheme, THB Legal, Police Mortgages, Bluline Health, Pointers Financial and No1 CopperPot Credit Union.