*******TRIGGER WARNING******* 

Please don't read any further if you have unprocessed trauma.

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I'm about to share something with you that not many people would. This is my motivation for running this marathon for the NSPCC, a secret I've kept to myself for over 20 years.

This isn't the worst story you will have read on the internet, but it's my story and the worst thing that's ever happened to me. 

When I was 12 years old I became a survivor of sexual abuse, it was the most terrifying experience of my life.

Please don't feel sorry for me, I'm in the best place of my life right now. I'm training for the London Marathon, I've just conquered my fear of public speaking by living out a long time dream of mine to perform stand up comedy, and I've just been accepted into university to do a masters degree. 

Life couldn't be better for me right now.

I'm now in a good place that I can openly admit what happened to me without feeling embarrassed or ashamed.

Whilst my story is not as bad as you may initially be thinking, that doesn't take away from the horrific trauma I went through and the feeling that I was going to be murdered. It was that scary to me. 

I wont share too much detail but I'll say that I was probably being groomed for something I don't even want to bear thinking about. 

I was with a friend when we were lured onto a speedboat by a couple of guys, one who turned out to be a monster. Excitement quickly turned into a horror story and I completely froze in the hopes that I would be able to get back to shore alive. 

There was nobody around to save me and I felt that if I tried to resist, there was nothing stopping this guy from throwing us overboard. My friend was completely oblivious to what was happening to me.

I cant explain how terrifying this incident was. I didnt understand what was going on or why, but I sensed how much danger I was in and waited for my opportunity to escape before things got really bad. When we got back to shore he tried to take me into his car where I would have most likely been kidnapped but thankfully I managed to get away.

There's too many children that aren’t as lucky as me to be able to escape their abusers, they don't deserve that and this is why I've chosen to run the London Marathon for the NSPCC.

I'm sharing this to raise awareness, and to hopefully help get children the help they need and do my part to put an end to child abuse.

I'm not just running this marathon for me, I'm running it for all survivors of all ages so that they know they're not alone.