Rovaniemi, Country #9: Running for Mark Johnson
On Sunday 22 March 2026, Giuseppe Miuccio takes Run for Voices to Rovaniemi, Finland for Country #9 of his 50K in 50 Countries challenge. The event is listed on the Run for Voices website as taking place in the Arctic Circle, in Finnish Lapland, from 09:00 to 17:00. He runs in memory of his uncle, Antonino “Zio Nino”, whose throat cancer journey inspired the mission behind this global challenge. But in Finland, he is also running for Mark Johnson.
Mark’s story is one of the clearest and most devastating examples of what HPV-related throat cancer can do. His journey began in 2014 with what seemed like a persistent earache. He was just 40 years old, a non-smoker who rarely drank, when he was diagnosed with an HPV-positive tumour at the base of his tongue. The treatment that followed was brutal: dental clearance, chemoradiotherapy, a feeding tube and a hospital admission with neutropenic sepsis.
Then came the decision that defines his story.
When the cancer returned in 2016, Mark was given a stark choice: accept palliative care, or undergo a total glossectomy and laryngectomy — surgery that would remove his tongue and voice box entirely. For most people, it is almost impossible to imagine such a choice. For Mark, it came down to one thing: more time with his wife and children. At the time, they were just 5, 10 and 15. He chose the surgery.
That is why this run matters.
Run for Voices is not simply about miles, countries or endurance. It is a global run for people whose voices throat cancer changed forever. People like Zio Nino, and people like Mark, whose life was reshaped by cancer, by treatment, and by the impossible bargains families are sometimes forced to make.
After surgery, Mark woke breathing through a stoma in his neck and unable to speak naturally. He communicated using text-to-speech technology, lived with chronic pain, daily exhaustion, PTSD, anxiety and depression, and adapted to a life that most people would struggle even to picture. Yet through all of it, he remained honest, generous and determined to use his story to help others understand the reality of HPV-related throat cancer.
On 8 February 2026, we shared that Mark was at home with his family, receiving palliative care, in the place he most wanted to be. On 18 February, we shared the heartbreaking news that Mark had died peacefully, surrounded by those he loved. His story did not end with silence. It continues in the people he helped, the awareness he raised, and the warning his journey gives to others about HPV and throat cancer.
This weekend in Rovaniemi, Giuseppe runs for him.
For the father who chose everything he could endure for more time with his children.
For the man whose honesty helped others feel less alone.
For every family changed forever by throat cancer.
At the Throat Cancer Foundation, that is why we continue to say the same thing, plainly: awareness matters, prevention matters, and earlier diagnosis matters. HPV-related throat cancer can happen to people who do not fit old assumptions about risk. The more people understand that, the more chance we have of changing outcomes.
Please support Giuseppe’s Finland run.
This is more than another 50K. It is part of a global run for people whose voices throat cancer changed forever.
Donate here:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/giuseppe-miuccio-11
Follow the wider Run for Voices journey here:
https://www.runforvoices.com
View the Finland event page here:
https://www.runforvoices.com/event-details/country-11-rovaniemi-finland-run-for-voices-50k-in-50-countries
If you are in or near Rovaniemi on Sunday 22 March, please come and support him on the day.
Follow Giuseppe on Instagram:
@giuseppe_miuccio
#RunForVoices #BeThroatCancerAware #ThroatCancer #ThroatCancerAwareness #VoicesMatter #Rovaniemi50K #HPVAwareness #ForMark #ForZioNino
