After the flu ruined my LM 2025 plans, I'm absolutely delighted that the Family Holiday Charity allowed me to defer my place - so I'm back for 2026!!

I've been back training hard again this year, through the snow, ice and some crazy storms and am so excited to be able to take my place at the start line for the 2026 London Marathon!

Thank you to everyone who donated last year, thanks to your support (and the other LM runners) the FHC were able send up to 81 families away last summer for a break - which is amazing!

I would be so so SO grateful for any support that you can give me this year - THANK YOU!!!

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The London Marathon has always been special to me. I first watched my cousin run it in a giant Noddy costume in 2001 and I was in awe of the energy and sheer scale of the event. Since then I have watched it every year, in London or on TV and cheered on my fabulous sisters Helen, Rachel and Lois and other friends and family - and always thought "one day I'll do it". So this year, in my 40th year, I have decided to take the plunge and train for, and run the London Marathon on 27th April 2025!

But more importantly than me doing it, is the charity that I'm running for - the Family Holiday Charity. I have been working with the FHC for six years as part of my role as Trustee for the Sheffield Family Holiday Fund. Both charities work closely together to provide holidays for families who are in need. In Sheffield, we send around 45 families away each year on a much needed break, and the fabulous team at the Family Holiday Charity enable us to do that by providing support and practical arrangements for our local families. I feel very proud to be running for the FHC as a way of saying thank you for all that they continue to do for Sheffield families in need.

So thank you for reading this, and thank you for supporting me! And I'll leave you with Emma's story....

Emma’s Story

“It was very posh!” laughs Emma, recalling her recent break at Butlins Skegness with her partner Scott and daughter Evie-Rose. It was their first holiday as a family—something that now means more than ever.

Emma was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer in March. “They can control it, but it’s been tough. I just take each day as it comes.”

With hospital appointments and a recent house move, a holiday seemed impossible—until their support worker, Nicola, nominated them for one with Family Holiday Charity, funded by the Sheffield Family Holiday Fund. “We worked through Emma's list of things she would love to do while she can, she said she couldn’t remember when she last had a holiday and said she had never been away with her partner and daughter as she had never been well enough.”

“I just wanted to forget everything for a while and spend quality time with my family,” says Emma. Now, she hopes others in her position get the same chance.