Hi there! Thanks for visiting my page. 😄 My name is Bethany and I'm very excited (and terrified!) to be running 26.2 miles in the London Marathon this October. 

I will be running to raise money for Young Epilepsy - a charity that has become very significant to my family and me over the past two years.

Back in January 2019, I got a call whilst at work. It was my dad ringing to say that my younger brother Christian had collapsed whilst cycling on a busy road and had had his first ever seizure. He woke up in an ambulance not knowing where he was, not recognising my dad and not even knowing what year it was (we let him off when he said 2018!) With no history of epilepsy in the family, the doctors didn't put him on any medication and for 11 months he was seizure free. 

November came around and suddenly the seizures came back - this time much worse. Every two to three weeks, I'd get another call to say my brother was back in hospital with one epilepsy-related injury after another. The seizures came without warning - Christian would fall down wherever he was and wake up confused, often bleeding, and exhausted. Many times we've had to go find him collapsed during a run, or take him from the gym to hospital - and he's even got scars from a broken collarbone which left him in a sling for weeks. He says that every time he has a seizure, it feels like he's going to die. I can't even begin to imagine how scary that would feel.

Despite all this, anyone who knows my brother will know that he is the last person to let this get him down. I am inspired every day by his courage, positivity and epic sense of humour. He read through this story yesterday, laughed and said: "Blimey, this Christian bloke seems to have had a rough time of it!" 😆 I guess he's not wrong?

1 in 100 people in the UK have epilepsy, yet this is a condition that people don't talk about enough. There are 21 epilepsy-related deaths in the UK every WEEK, and yet the research behind why people have seizures and what triggers individuals is still relatively unknown. I'm happy to say that after countless doses and different meds, NHS staff finally seem to have found a dosage that works for my brother. He is currently 7 months seizure-free, which is the longest he's gone since November 2019. We're so happy to hit this milestone after two years of uncertainty, and the future is looking very bright!

So why Young Epilepsy? This charity works with children and young adults to support and inform them about their condition and to provide comfort for the families too. They work hard to ensure that young people with epilepsy are fairly represented and can thrive in school and work environments. 

In a rather ironic turn of events, they say the strain of a seizure on the body is the equivalent to running a marathon. This time, instead of Christian taking the strain, I'll be doing it for him and all of the other young people dealing with epilepsy. And whilst I'm nervous for the challenge ahead, I'm so excited to raise money for such an important cause.

If you'd like to support me on this journey, then any donation, no matter how small, is welcome.

See you all at the finish line! 🏃‍♀️🙏