20 Mar 2026

Friends organise charity run after Laura’s sudden death.

Laura Offer with her partner Dan

Film and TV producer Laura Offer passed away from leukaemia in August 2025 just three days after she was diagnosed. Her devastating sudden death has prompted a group of eight of her grieving friends from the film and TV industry to run the 2026 London Landmarks half marathon to raise money for Leukaemia UK in her honour.

Laura put her poor sleep, dizzy spells and shortness of breath down to perimenopause. She was 41 in July 2025 when she started to feel unwell. The symptoms weren’t bad enough to prompt her to see her GP, but after a few weeks they took a dramatic turn for the worse.

“On 11th August 2025 Laura nearly fainted on the train on the way to work,” said her partner Dan King, 41, who lives in Walthamstow, London, and works for an engineering consultancy. “She came back home and dialed 111 to get advice. After some back and forth she was told to go to Whipps Cross Hospital, which we did together.”

Laura was given a blood test and told that something wasn’t right. She was then admitted for the night for further tests.

“She’s always just rationalised her symptoms as perimenopause so to be told something was wrong with her blood scared us.”

The following day doctors broke the news to Dan and Laura that she had leukaemia and would be transferred to a specialist unit at St Bart’s Hospital for further diagnosis and treatment. More tests were carried out including a bone marrow biopsy. On 14th August 2025 Laura was told she had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Laura with her friend

ALL in Laura’s age group is incredibly rare – only 110 cases per year are diagnosed in the UK in 40- to 59-year-olds. Despite this, Laura was told the doctors were very confident that it could be beaten and that treatment would start in five days.

“The way the doctor discussed treatment we were both relieved to hear the prognosis. Laura had managed to maintain good spirits about the situation. However the one thing she could not joke about was the prospect of losing her hair due to chemotherapy; she got quite teary when discussing this. When I left her to go home that night I had no fears or concerns about Laura’s wellbeing. We were both buoyant after hearing the news it could beaten and there were options available.”

However later that evening Laura started to feel very tired and her blood oxygen level dropped. She was put onto oxygen and scans were taken which showed that she had developed blood clots on her lungs. As the night went on, Laura struggled to get enough oxygen into her body.

“She was admitted to ICU at 1.30am 15th August. She was apparently joking with staff during the transfer. At approximately 4am Laura was sedated and put onto a ventilator. I was called to the hospital and arrived terrified. I just wanted to hold Laura, tell her it would be OK and make her feel OK, but she was unconscious. I could do nothing. I felt so helpless and small. As the next day dawned I became emotionally blank with the occasional bout of tears. Nothing I could do would change anything, I could not process the enormity of what was happening to Laura.”

Laura with her mum and sister

Desperate for support, Dan called a friend who came to the hospital within an hour. He also contacted Laura’s mother and sister, and his own parents, who all rushed to be there.

Although treatment was due to begin the following week, Laura’s deterioration prompted a decision to start chemotherapy immediately. Tragically she never recovered and passed away later that day with Dan at her side and surrounded by her family.

“People say they sort of go numb when something as shocking as this happens. It’s like something clicks in your brain and you can’t emotionally process it. It was overwhelming. It still is. Life changes in a second.

“I’ve only ever really been to the funerals of older people with a relatively small number of people in attendance, but at Laura’s there were over 120 friends and family. She was incredible, really good with people, she could talk to anyone and get on with anyone, and gave so much to her friends. On our first date in March 2020 she turned up looking great in a dress with a big smile. I don’t know what she saw in me but we kept talking and then the pandemic hit so we did Skype dates. Without all of life’s distractions our relationship fast-tracked and we found something special. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now without her.

“I ended up being off work full time for three months and then did a phased return – fortunately my work was very understanding. I’m in therapy and I still cry a few times every day. Our network of friends and family has been absolutely amazing and so generous with their time. I feel very fortunate to have them around me.”

Laura with her work colleagues

Laura was part of a strong and supportive friendship group she’d made through her career as a Series Producer. Working primarily for American broadcasters, Laura was known for programmes such as Body Cam which was streamed on Hulu and HBO, and Shark Attack 360 for National Geographic. In recent years she had spent months working in Alaska on Ice Airport Alaska. Although self-employed, the group, who’d all worked together at one point, kept in touch and met up regularly when they were in London. They decided to channel their grief into running in memory of Laura and raising money for Leukaemia UK at the London Landmarks 2026 run.

Martin Cass is a Director who lives in Beckenham and has signed up for the run with six others from the group. “I met her through work around six years ago. She had this uncanny ability of being able to say the right thing to spark inspiration in the team, and had a very clear, problem-solving approach to managing people and getting the best out of a group of creatives with different personalities without micromanaging. She also had a very dark sense of humour, which resonated with me and which we needed working on true crime series, and which really bonded us.”

Producer Verity Thomson is another of Laura’s colleagues who is also doing the run and said: “It’s difficult to get across what a brilliant person Laura really was. Kind, funny and an absolute boss in the TV world. I am so grateful to her as she uplifted young female producers like myself in the industry and gave me opportunities I might not have got elsewhere.”

Martin added: “It just all happened so quickly. I talked to her on the Wednesday night to arrange coming to see her at the weekend and she said she didn’t even feel ill. Dan rang me on the Friday. I thought it was to make arrangements but he told me she’d passed away the night before. I don’t think any of us have processed it even now.

“Our WhatsApp group really supported each other and helped us deal with the massive shock but it’s still weird not seeing her name on there. At work I still go to call her or send an email without thinking and then remember I can’t.

“It’s hard to know where to put your energies when you lose someone so having a goal like Landmarks and helping raise money for other people with leukaemia feels like something worth doing.

“Laura will live on in the people she touched in her life. She brought us all together, we have friendships that would never have happened without her. She won’t be forgotten ever because of the impact she had on our lives.”

Dan added: “The run is a great way for everyone to do something to remember her which I think is important. I will be there on the sidelines cheering them on. It will be such an emotional day. We lost someone spectacular.”

Mariana Kneppers is fundraising for Leukaemia UK

Claire Justin is fundraising for Leukaemia UK

Verity Thomson is fundraising for Leukaemia UK

Dyanne Cundall is fundraising for Leukaemia UK

Rebecca Kenna is fundraising for Leukaemia UK

Martin Cass is fundraising for Leukaemia UK

Simon Lewis is fundraising for Leukaemia UK

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/austingraff-1764247123746

https://www.justgiving.com/team/teamsharksrunforlaura