Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page :)

So I have started my journey to running the London Marathon for a great cause that is very close to my heart:

On Friday 2^nd January 2015, my Dad, Jonny and I were travelling home from a hike in Derbyshire, when our lives were turned upside down. Dad’s speech became blurred and ‘distant’, whilst his left arm became very weak, resulting in erratic driving. We later discovered that he had suffered a haemorrhagic stroke (bleed) in his neck, cutting off the blood flow to the right side of his brain. This had an almost immediate effect of shutting down the left side of his body and culminated in a collision with a lorry on the motorway (which at the very least allowed us to stop and assess the situation, but meant we were very popular at 5pm on a Friday evening…!). The severity of bleed and subsequent swelling on the brain required an emergency ‘decompressive craniectomy’ (removing half his skull) to enable the brain to swell outside of the skull capacity (I know… crazy right?!).

It’s been a long road and 4 years on we continue to rebuild our lives with the unwavering support of our family, friends and dedicated team at Physio Function in Northampton. Every day, Dad pushes himself to get stronger, walk further and regain full independence. I want to use this platform to say thank you to everyone involved, and particularly to my brother, grandparents and aunties – without you, this would have been 1 million times harder.

To my dad, you are an inspiration. Keep going fella - we are all behind you!

It is easy to adopt the mindset that our experience is unique, but unfortunately there will continue to be many similar stories around the UK. We were incredibly lucky not to lose my dad that night, but others will suffer a different fate. Stroke remains the leading cause of death and disability in the UK, so I am running the London Marathon this year to continue raising awareness of this ‘silent killer’, and help fund further research and support. 

I have set a very ambitious target of £5000, but with your generosity and support, I am hopeful that we can surpass it and contribute to a fantastic and important cause!

Lot’s of love, 

Luke xx

P.S. I will also be compiling a marathon playlist on Spotify to help me through, so please, if you can donate, also nominate a song to be included on this playlist (and I'll be thinking about you as I run...!). See Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/user/1155691214/playlist/1TvxXod97QiPSTbdINbiJZ?si=Fc3r6zRVTZmdLtCRh2ATzA