In April 2019, my cousin Claire died unexpectedly, just hours after giving birth to her wonderful daughter. She was 31 years old.

Claire was kind, caring, energetic, beautiful, warm and intelligent. She
was a speech therapist, supporting people suffering from brain injuries to regain their speech. She brightened the life of every person she interacted with - from her friends and family, to her colleagues and clients. We all miss her so very much.

It was for that reason that I decided to run the London Marathon, to raise money for the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT - part of the Disabilities Trust), a charity which meant a great deal to Claire. 

Claire brightened all of our lives. By donating to my
fundraiser, you can help BIRT brighten someone else's life, in her memory.

UPDATE: I'll now be running the London Marathon 2022, as the London Marathon 2020 was cancelled due to Covid. 

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The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT) is the UK's leading
charity in brain injury rehabilitation. Founded in 1991, BIRT provides
specialist assessment and rehabilitation at 15 centres across England, Scotland and Wales. The multi-disciplinary teams in their rehabilitation centres support people with a brain injury to function as independently as possible, develop their lives as they choose and participate in the wider community.

BIRT is a division of the Disabilities Trust, a leading national charity providing specialist community-based and residential support for adults with acquired brain injury, complex physical or learning disabilities and for people with autism, including education.

People are at the heart of everything we do and our services
across the country include purpose-built residential accommodation,
community-based housing, respite care, special education and community enabling services to maximise each individual's independence. Working in partnership with those we support, their families and friends, local authorities, health authorities, housing associations and other organisations, we have an established track record of delivering leading-edge services that meet the needs of people with complex and challenging disabilities. We are continually
looking to refine our existing services and develop new ones in response to identified individual needs.