Hi, thanks for visiting our page. Through justgiving, you can sponsor us and donations will be quickly processed and passed to charity. In January 2004 I received a phone call in the morning from my aunt to say that my dad was in hospital. Having thought he was at work the previous night I persumer he had an accident at work. Nothing prepared us for what we were walking into that day, even the nurses didn't prepare us and my partner swooped up our two year old and rushed her back out hoping she hadn't noticed Grandad. My dad hadn't gone to work, he had gone to the local social club two minutes from his house and on his way home had been attacked from behind. He had over 50 stitches to his head and face and was paralysed from the neck down. He spent a month at Barnet, with a stay in intensive care.

They wanted to send him miles away to another hospital but we managed to get them to send him to Stanmore hospital's spinal injuries unit, so he was local to home. We were so grateful for everything Stanmore did for my dad. I was nearly seven months pregnant when this happened and was organising my wedding. Thanks to the people at Aspire my dad was able to attend my wedding and wheel downt he aisle next to me. Aspire sorted out a chaperone and transport to get him to the wedding and allowed him to stay until late in the evening. We were always included in the decision making and kept informed as to what was going on and the next steps. We had many celebrations at the hospital. When dad was due to be discharged his local housing association hadn't sorted out his housing so he moved to an Aspire property in Edgware again, close to home so we could visit daily.

My dad sadly passed away in November 2009. He stubbornly hadn't returned to the Aspire centre for a number of years and had he have done so he may have got the execise he needed that he couldn't manage at home and this may have helped prolong his life. My aunt is currently having treatment regularly at Stanmore throught the Aspire centre, so as a whole family we are incredibly grateful for the work the Aspire team carry out.

Running the marathon is a major challenge for me and my husband. Two years ago my husband had weight loss surgery due to being 27.1 stone. He now weighs 14 stone and is detemined to complete the marathon.

Thank you for all your support and we hope you can spare any amount of money as it all adds up. You can follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with all our additional fundraising events and training is taking shape. Our Twitter name is mandjohnmaratho. 

We are sad to have to announce that due to health reasons we are unable to participate in the London Marathon this year but we will be taking part, health allowing, in 2014, so pleascontiu nude to show your support throughout this year.