I am extremely proud and very nervous to be able to say I will be 'running' London Marathon 2024 with Team British Heart Foundation in memory of our Rachel Kilbourne.

As some of you know Rachel lost her life in December 2022, suddenly at the age of 33 to an undiagnosed heart condition called Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM).

There hasn’t been a single day gone by I don’t think of Rach so submitting the application and writing a reason why I wanted to run in her memory was easy, the hard part was making the decision to accept the place when I found out I was successful. The British Heart Foundation funded the research to pinpoint the genes caused by cardiomyopathies and they also led the roll out of genetic testing which has enabled Rachel’s parents, 3 sisters and 4 beautiful daughters to be tested, so the decision to support such an amazing cause was far greater than the HUGE challenge I am about to endure.

Rachel’s love for life was unmatched and her one of kind personality certainly made the world a better place. With that in mind, Rachel is my reason ‘why’ an incredible mother, wife, daughter, sister, auntie and friend, missed beyond words and remembered every single day, this is for you my darling girl.

I would be so grateful for all your support to help me raise as much money as possible to honour any families who have sadly been affected and to support the BHF create new treatments and discover new cures for our future generations.

Thank you so much and love always Michaela xxx