Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I decided to run the London Marathon in memory of my dad who died suddenly in 2013 from an AAA. I wanted to run for a charity to raise money for research and awareness of the condition and felt the British Heart Foundation would be the perfect match. I'm honoured to have been chosen to join the Heart Runners Team for the 2015 London Marathon.

AAA (Abdominal aortic aneurysm) is not a well known condition but still kills approx 6000 people each year in England and Wales and accounts for around 2% of all deaths in men over the age of 65. Scarily like my dad most people will be unaware they have one as the majority do not have any symptoms.

If you'd like more information on this silent killer and how to get screened please visit: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-screening/Pages/Introduction.aspx

The training is going well...... so far!  and I completed my first half marathon this Sept having only ever run a few 10ks in the past. But as the nights draw in and the weather turns wet and cold I'll need all the support I can get to keep me going. So a big THANK YOU for any donation you can give, every donation will give me a huge boost and motivate me through the winter training!

Your donation will help fund ground breaking research

£30 will buy a Heartstart schools training pack providing teachers with a specialised Emergency Life Support (ELS) skills package to teach children what to do in a life-threatening emergency.

£50 will help power life-saving research, buying vital equipment for labs. Researchers regularly need to measure the levels of specific biological factors in tissue or blood samples. One assay kit, to measure the level of a specific factor in a series of samples costs at least £50.

£200 could fund one of our young scientists for a whole day. We currently provide the salaries for around 500 post-doctoral scientists who work in research teams right across the UK .

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

For my dad, who I miss everyday.