We are running the Hackney Half Marathon to raise money for Action on Postpartum Psychosis, a charity that is close to our hearts. When our best friend gave birth to her beautiful baby girl, she struggled with postpartum psychosis, a devastating mental illness that can occur after childbirth. Thanks to the incredible support and guidance from Action on Postpartum Psychosis and the NHS at Florence House, in Bournemouth, our friend was able to recover and build a happy, healthy life with her family.

We are inspired by our friend's courage and resilience, and we want to do our part to support this fantastic charity. By running the Hackney Half Marathon and fundraising for Action on Postpartum Psychosis, we hope to help other women and families who may be struggling with this illness.

We would greatly appreciate your support in helping us reach our fundraising goal. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a difference in the lives of those affected by postpartum psychosis. Thank you for your generosity and for joining us in our mission to support this worthy cause.

Hear our brave friends story:

Nothing could have ever prepared me for what was to happen after having my daughter.

It was December 2020 just before another lockdown when I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Penelope. My husband and I were so excited to meet our baby and live the life I had always dreamt of. Little did I know, it wasn’t going to be quite what I had expected.

The birth was long and I had a fairly traumatic delivery. This led to me being so distraught that I hadn’t bought her into the world the way I had wanted to. There were no baby groups for me to go to and no one was able to meet her. Looking back, it was an extremely strange time.

I had multiple appointments with health visitors and health professionals expressing how low I felt. But each time I was faced with people telling me that they either couldn’t help me, or when asking if it was post natal depression, I was told not to put a label on it. This was even after I told them I had thoughts of jumping in front of a train.

Four months down the line as things weren’t getting any better, my mum encouraged me to speak to my doctor. So I was given a phone appointment, diagnosed with PND and given anti depressants. Two weeks later is when everything in my life changed.

After around a week of being unable to sleep and it progressively getting worse, was when, unbeknown to myself and the people around me, I was showing signs or early psychosis.

Then one night, I had my first psychotic episode after feeding Penelope. I rolled back on to her, started uncontrollably laughing, shot up and sang Ordinary People by John Legend. Nothing about that was normal behaviour and this immediately alerted my husband into thinking I had some type of psychotic episode.

The next day after no sleep, I was in and out of psychosis and just wasn’t myself. My husband and parents spent hours trying to organise to get me the help I needed. Finally that day, someone came out to assess me and confirmed that I needed to be admitted into a Mother & Baby Unit (MBU).

I was admitted that evening and immediately sectioned as it was clear I was very unwell. From that moment it is all a blur. I was diagnosed with Post Partum Pyschosis and from then on, two weeks of my life I don’t really remember, it was like I was drunk and in and out of consciousness. What I do remember are the scary parts. Thinking that I had killed my daughter, looking at her and her looking dead, thinking everyone around me was dying and believing I was a truly horrible person and that I needed to die.

I believed that they had taken me to the MBU to kill me and when having an ECG done, I thought it was the electric shock treatment. I was totally ready to die and I now know looking back, if it wasn’t for me being inside the MBU, I would have killed myself as the voices in my head were too much.

This might seem dramatic to some, but post partum psychosis affects around 1 in 500 women after birth and if not treated as a medical emergency, can lead to suicide or the baby being harmed.

Action on Post Partum Psychosis is a charity that means a lot to me. It was the first bit of information I was given when in the MBU for me to understand what was happening to me. I have since spoken to peer support workers from the charity to talk through what happened which has been invaluable to speak to others that have lived experienced and understand me.

Flora & Mollie are kindly running a half marathon and raising money for APP so we can help the charity help others, educated health professionals and raise awareness. I never knew of PPP before having it, and many others around me didn’t either. So if just by writing this, or raising money to help the charity do so, can help prevent other families and mums going through what we went through. That would mean the world to me.

Thank you Flora and Mollie for doing this and for being there when I needed you the most. You mean so much to me. Thank you also to my other friends and family for everything you have done when I didn’t think there was a way out. I love you all ♥️