I lost my Mum to breast cancer last April.

She was amazing in so many ways.

She had been living with cancer for a number of years but her decline at the end was rapid over a few short weeks and took us by surprise. 

These last days were spent in The Salisbury Hospice where she was looked after in a way that made her feel safe and listened to.

I will be forever grateful to the hospice for taking care of my Mum.  

A friend took me out to lunch the following week.  It turned out he had also lost someone very close to him at The Salisbury Hospice and run a couple of marathons for it.  

It was the week before the London Marathon and we registered for the ballot to run it in 2019 to raise money for the Hospice.  It relies on donations to keep its services free as it is only 50% funded by the NHS.  

I wanted to do something to say thank you and to put the grief into something positive.  I knew that if I didn’t push for this I had the potential to pack the grief away.  I didn’t want to do that and I also wanted to be able to talk to my children about it openly and not hide it from them.

I found out a few weeks ago that unfortunately I hadn’t got a place via the ballot.  It hit me harder than I thought it would.  I’ve been going to a running school since April and slowly building up my distances in the hope that I would get a place.

I then heard that the Hospice itself had one place to allocate for the marathon.  I applied and last week received the most brilliant email telling me that I had been chosen!

A Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Golden Ticket!

The London Marathon 2019 will mark the anniversary of losing my Mum.  I'm immensely proud to have the opportunity to run for the Hospice in her memory.  

You also realise that there are so many people running the marathon with their own personal stories.  

And remembering people isn’t something we need to hide away.  

That running a marathon is actually about life and celebrating it.

It would be amazing if you felt you could donate something to this brilliant hospice that supports people and their families at such an important time.  

Thank you so much.

Jamie