I hoped I would be writing this message to you all months ago – after being on a steady training plan and being t-total for months.  BUT……………. you know me ;-)

Despite just about making 13 miles round my local park last weekend - I am somehow going to run 26 miles in the Paris Marathon on April 12th (a week today!).  I am doing this to salute two wonderful people – My Dad (the kindest man I know) and my niece Ella (the bravest girl I know).  I am really hoping you lovely people will reach for your bank cards and donate - to inspire me through this torture and raise my goal of £1200 for the British Heart Foundation.

 

In October 2012, I was expecting my Dad and stepmum Ljiljana to come round and help me put up an IKEA bed (no jokes please about what people will do to avoid assembling IKEA furniture ;-).  Instead I got a call from Ljiljana to say my Dad had collapsed on the running machine as his heart had stopped.  Thankfully he was resuscitated, but his heart had stopped beating for over 6 minutes,  and he was put into an induced coma, with very uncertain odds.  After two very long days, my dad woke up!  If it wasn’t for the fact a doctor was training nearby, and the amazing efforts of NHS doctors, nurses and ambulance service – life would be very different for my family today.   My Dad waking up, was the happiest day of my life (alongside having Lia of course).  Over two years on, I am very proud to say my Dad is back to his crazy antics of climbing mountains, kayaking in Vietnam, running around the countryside and BBQ-ing our dinner on a cold Christmas day.  For those who know him, yes, he is, doing all of this in his signature shorts, and (wherever possible) bare feet.

 My Dad ran two marathons in the space of a few months in his 60’s (no jokes about the connection there either please ;-).   He will be there at the finish line on April 12^th - I hope I can somehow pull this off  - to make him proud.

I am also running this for my beautiful niece Ella.  Ella has been under the care of the Brompton Heart hospital since before she was born.  Ella has previously had open heart surgery and will need it again in the near future.  We are so proud of how Ella and her Mum and Dad handle this burden, and manage to live life as normally as possible between appointments and procedures.  Without the amazing care Ella gets from the NHS – things would be very different for her and our family.  I am so proud of Ella and want to do this to salute how bravely and maturely she deals with what she has to go through.

 

Ella, her Mum Amber, and my Dad have all received life saving heart treatment that wouldn’t be possible without advances in medical science that organisations such as the British Heart Foundation fund.  I am trying to raise £1200, a drop in the ocean - but it would enable the British Heart Foundation to install an AED machine in a public space. 

AED machines save lives!  Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the leading cause of premature death in the UK - only 20% of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside hospital survive.  We are a very lucky family! The use of an AED machine dramatically increases survival odds –  I hope raising this money, will contribute to saving lives in the future.

 Please donate :-)