I am running the 2027 London Marathon in memory of my younger sister, Julianne, and in support of the Molly Rose Foundation.

Acting at the intersect of online safety, suicide prevention and mental health, Molly Rose Foundation fights for the safety of young people like Molly. They work to influence policy change to keep children safe online, providing those at risk of suicide signposting to support, and educating young people about mental health and suicide prevention.

Learn more about the Molly Rose Foundation here.

My Story

In January 2023, a few months after losing my little sister Julianne to suicide, I ran my first race. I didn’t realize it then, but it marked the beginning of something much bigger for me: a way to reconnect with living.

Julianne wasn’t only my sister. She was my best friend. We grew up side by side, immigrated to the U.S. together, attended the same schools and eventually moved to the same cities. She knew me better than anyone. She was simply part of how I imagined the rest of my life.

When she died, I felt completely unanchored in a world I no longer recognized.

Running came into my life partly because of her. After she died, I found the collection of running gear she had carefully put together. Julianne had only recently started running. She had struggled with depression for years and tried so hard to feel better, and for a while running seemed to give her something: a goal, movement, endorphins, a feeling of belonging.

I understood why she loved it.

So I started running too.

Over time, it became a place where I could feel connected to life again, and connected to her. I run through the neighborhoods we used to wander together in New York. Sometimes I talk to her. Sometimes we’re quiet, the way we could always sit beside each other without needing to say anything.

And on the days when I don’t feel her there, I keep running anyway.

Since then, I’ve carried Julianne through finish lines, including the New York City and Berlin Marathons. At NYC, I wore her name on my bib and heard strangers along the course cheering her name back to me.

She would have absolutely loved it.

Why London

In April 2027, I’ll carry her with me through London.

London has its own meaning for us because it was the last place Julianne and I traveled together.

There is also something I can’t ignore about a marathon being 26.2 miles when Julianne was only 27 when she died. I think about every one of those miles as another year of her life that I get to carry forward.

This marathon will be different for me in another way, too. For years, I rarely spoke publicly about the fact that Julianne died by suicide. She went through things no girl should ever have had to experience, including harmful experiences online, as part of a much larger and more complicated story of what she carried.

Why the Molly Rose Foundation

That is why running for the Molly Rose Foundation feels so personal to me.

Their work is dedicated to preventing suicide among young people and protecting children and young people from the harms and pressures they can face, including online.

I want something good to come from sharing Julianne’s story. If doing so can help support work that protects another young person, reaches someone earlier, or helps another family avoid this kind of loss, then speaking about it is worth it.

How you can help

My goal is to raise at least $3,000 for the Molly Rose Foundation.

If you’d like to be part of this with me, you can:

* Donate any amount that feels meaningful to you.

* Sponsor one of my 26.2 miles — $100 sponsors a full mile on the road to London.

* Check whether your employer matches charitable donations. If eligible, your employer may be able to match your gift and increase its impact.

* Share this fundraiser with someone who might connect with Julianne’s story or the Molly Rose Foundation’s work.

I’m not running to leave my grief behind. I’m learning how to keep living with it, with Julianne as part of me.

Every finish line is another place I get to bring her.

Thank you for helping me carry Julianne all the way to London.