In honour of my Mum, Euan and I will be taking on Stroke Association’s 62 Miles in October challenge. 💜

124miles/200km together🏃🏽‍♀️🏃🏽‍♂️

In April this year, my Mum very unexpectedly suffered a catastrophic stroke. I witnessed first-hand the devastating and life-threatening impact a stroke can have on a person — something I knew very little about before this happened to my family.

For just over a week, I watched my Mum put up an incredibly hard fight. We spent endless hours in intensive care, desperately hoping and praying for positive news each day. Sadly, the damage to her brain was simply too severe, and after the hardest week of our lives, my beautiful Mum passed away.

“I’m sorry, but your Mum is just the unlucky one.”

Those words will stay with me forever.

No family should have to experience the devastation of losing someone they love, and especially not be left wondering why.

Losing my Mum has changed our lives in an instant, and the pain of losing her is something I know that we will all carry forever as a family. This is why this challenge means so much to me. By taking on 62 miles in October, I hope to turn some of my grief into something positive — raising awareness of stroke, helping people understand how devastating and unpredictable it can be, and raising vital funds towards research, education, treatment and support for those affected by stroke and their families.

For my Mum. For stroke sufferers and survivors. For the families affected by stroke. And for the hope that one day, nobody will be told they were simply “the unlucky one”.

Every donation, no matter how big or small, means more to us than you will ever know 💜