I will be running the London Marathon 2025 to raise money for the Meningitis Research Foundation in solidarity of my cousin Cory.

Cory's story from my Auntie Sarah,

At the end of March 2023 Cory, aged 23 at the time, became unwell with a cough and suffering with headaches. Cory was very fit and well, worked hard as a roofer to support his son (23 months at the time) who he is a lone parent to. The headaches progressively got worse with severe vomiting and the pupils of his eyes went out of control. He was seen at Heartlands A&E on the evening of 2nd April but was sent away with some antibiotics. His condition rapidly got worse overnight and an ambulance took him to Queen Elizabeth Hospital early morning of 3rd April. Within hours of being there as his condition deteriorated even more, he was placed into an induced coma and taken into critical care with suspected meningitis. Once he was stable enough for tests and scans they showed his brain had lots of inflammation but tests for meningitis were negative.

Countless tests were carried out and sent off but his condition was a mystery to the medical team which meant they didn't exactly know what to treat him with and not knowing what caused this to happen. Cory was in critical care for 6 weeks before being moved into a ward although, still not conscious or particularly stable. He then contracted pneumonia and sepsis and ended back in critical care in a serious condition having dropped to just 6 and a half stone in weight and also required to have a chest drain.

Cory was in and out of a coma for 12 weeks. Eventually when he came round he couldn't speak or move. At week 13, Cory was transferred to Moseley Rehabilitation Hospital where he stayed for 6 months. He made huge progress there and could hold his head up, could eat & drink, speak as well as steadily improving with movement in his arms and legs. Whilst here, he had tests which confirmed a diagnosis of a critical illness called Myopathy which was causing progress to be very slow.

Unfortunately, this meant his rehabilitation at Moseley Hall had to come to an end and he was given a leave date of 5th January 2024. Although he was progressing and there was still so much to work on with him, funding could not be justified to extend his time there but they agreed to referring him for outpatients neuro physio.

After 9 months in hospital Cory came home and started outpatients neuro physio at Solihull Hospital. Slow, steady progress has been made with 2-3 sessions per week for the last few months and again we are now at a point where they are ready to discharge him due to funding. He stills needs lots of help to gain strength in his core and general overall strength and movement in order to gain his independence back. As a family we do our best whilst working and looking after Cory's now 3 year old son. We hire a motomed bike, practice core exercises, edge sitting and soon to be standing frame practice which we do daily and to the best of our ability however, we are not neuro physiotherapists by any means.

Any donations Cory receives will be to fund private neuro physio as ideally he needs at least 3-4 professional sessions per week. The funds will also go towards transport to get there and back which is as much, if not more than the physio itself. We have had no wheelchair accessible vehicle since Cory came home in January and it's unlikely that we will get one by the end of this year. It has been almost 16 months since Cory was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. We still have no diagnosis, soon to have no professional neuro physiotherapy and no transport. Cory is 24 with his whole life ahead of him and his little boy to look after and although his recovery has been amazing, he still has so much more to overcome which with any donations, we can make this possible.

It means the world to us that you've taken time to read Cory's story. Every donation, no matter how small, will make the most significant impact. Your support will not only help fund this amazing charity but will also help to fund my cousin Cory to be able to gain his independence back. Thank you for joining me on this journey and thank you so much for supporting a cause that is so very close to mine and my family's hearts xx