We are a group of friends, namely Catherine, Pauline, Elaine, Alan and Alison, who met when our children attended Friends' School Prep Dept. We all enjoy our walks and some of us have walked as a group for a few years. However, apart from Pauline, who has already competed two marathons, we have never taken on a walk of this magnitude!

It was when Alison's husband Jeremy suffered a stroke in March 2017 that we decided to do the Dublin Marathon in support of Chest, Heart and Stroke. Due to the location of Jeremy's brain injury, he has suffered loss of left side peripheral vision and, whilst he has no other physical impairments, it has been a life changing event for him. Since then, he has been lucky enough to avail of a range of services from this worthy charity.

As well as wanting to give something back on behalf of Jeremy, we all felt it was good to raise the issue of stroke in younger adults, which is becoming increasingly common.

We would very much appreciate any contributions in support of Chest, Heart and Stroke as we aim to complete the marathon in Dublin on 29 October 2017.

Thank you.