Thank you for generously supporting my 11th London Marathon in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. Please know how much I appreciate each and every donation, however large or small!

The Emily Grote TeamGOSH Fund has now raised over £210,000 for GOSH since my first London Marathon in 2015.

As many of you know, my daughter Emily was diagnosed with a brain tumour – a craniopharyngioma – in June 2014, at the age of 3. Since then she has been under the expert care of the amazing team at GOSH and has undergone 13 surgeries there during that time, most recently in May 2025.

Emily’s illness has been a cause of enormous sadness and great challenge to us, her parents and family. At the time of her diagnosis, she was a lively and bright 3 year-old girl, with so much promise. Her tumour has left her totally blind, without any light perception. She is dependent on a complicated programme of daily hormone medication to keep her alive. Damage to her brain has left her with cognitive impairment and hypothalamic obesity. Sadly we know that it is not possible to remove all the tumour, so there is constant uncertainty surrounding Emily’s future .

Through all of this, Emily has retained her innate sense of positivity and good humour. She is happy and brilliantly supported at the wonderful special school that she attends in South West London.

The team at Great Ormond Street have become such a huge part of our lives over the past 12 years and without their expertise and dedication, Emily would not be with us today. We have had so many stays on Koala ward, where the nursing staff and play workers are a true inspiration in the support and kindness they exhibit, constantly going over and above for the children and parents in their care.

Running the London Marathon once a year is my small way of giving a little back to GOSH and the wonderful people there who have helped us so much. Every day, new children come through the door at GOSH, facing frightening diagnoses and similarly uncertain futures. It is my hope that the money raised through the Emily Grote TeamGOSH fund can help support other families as they embark their own challenging journeys, and do a small bit to raise much-needed money to support the medical care and advances that make GOSH the world-leading paediatric hospital it is.