My families life changed dramatically on the 24th May 1993 when my mum who at 39 years old lost her battle to acute myeloid leukaemia. Her lengthy battle where she always vowed to beat this disease (even though the hospital on diagnosis gave her one month potentially to live) was heartbreaking. I still think about the day I came home from work and my mum wasn’t there, dropped off at the hospital by my dad begging really for the doctors to find out what was wrong. We had to wait for tests and then 4 hours later we heard the devastating news and treatment started. I couldn’t visit as mum was to ill and needed to put every effort into getting through the month. 

We had a big family Christmas together that year not knowing what would happen the following year. Lots of treatment later my mum wanted the chance of a full recovery so her sisters and brothers were tested to see if they could be potential bone marrow donors. Even though they weren’t matches one sister was the closest possibility of a full recovery. Addenbrooke’s did everything they could over the time to treat my mum including two attempted bone marrow transplants. In that time my mum wasn’t at home very much and we had to wait until she was well enough to be home before we could see her. The pain was unbearable for everyone as all everybody wanted was for her wish to come true and for her to became well again. 

After mum had died I needed to do something in her memory as well as positive so joined the Anthony Nolan Trust bone marrow register. I never wanted anyone to need a life saving transplant and not have that chance of a possible match and that was when Anthony Nolan became part of my life. 

2018 is the 25th Anniversary of mum's death. I was 21 years old, my brother 19 and my dad 42. I have missed sharing my children and life with one special  person who should have been there. In September mum should have been 65 years old on the 18th and GNR is on the 9/9/18 so this was a fitting date and event to do a challenging half marathon. Today is Mothers Day 2018 the day my mum returned to Addenbrookes with the news that the 2nd transplant was rejecting for the final time. On April 15th I’m running Brighton Marathon 2018 and the month I last spoke with her on the telephone. May 28th I Run Vitality 2018 in London the day her funeral was. From 1st January 2018 until GNR in September I want to run 500 purposeful miles in total in her memory. Today alone was 14 miles, 10 of those running as fast as I could away from Mothers Day and then the final 4 exhausted and ending in the only place I wanted to be ...at her graveside. 

I need to do some good with my memories this year so fund raise for Anthony Nolan it is! 

I would be eternally grateful for any donations to this literally life saving charity.  There will be 350 Anthony Nolan runners at the Great North Run hoping to raise £200k and I am very proud to be one of them. I’ve wanted to raise more money and support this charity again for some time and mum's 25th Anniversary seemed like the perfect time. This will be a very emotionally charged year of running. Thank-you for following my journey & all of your support. ❤️ 

Every day, Anthony Nolan saves the lives of people with a blood cancer or blood disorder. They do this by matching incredible individuals willing to donate their stem cells, to people who desperately need a lifesaving transplant. They also carry out cutting edge scientific research, fund specialist post-transplant nurses and support patients and their families through the transplant process and beyond. They won’t stop until they save the lives of everyone who needs a stem cell transplant. Every penny you donate brings them closer to that day.