Hi, my name is Jonny and I have pledged to make £2,500 in my build up to running the London Marathon in 2027.

To do that I have also set up a Half Marathon Training Club on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halfmarathontrainingclub/

All I ask is that you help me with a small donation for the NSPCC.

Here's what motivates me personally...

RUNNING FOR THE CHILD I ONCE WAS

On 25 April 2027, I'll be standing on the start line of the TCS London Marathon as part of #TeamNSPCC.

For many people, running a marathon is about achieving a personal goal. For me, it's about something much bigger. I'm running because every child deserves someone to listen, someone to protect them, and someone to believe them.

APPEARING TO COPE

From the age of seven to sixteen, I experienced abuse, neglect and instability that no child should have to endure. Looking back, I can recognise at least eight medically recognised forms of childhood trauma. It was a world of fear, emotional neglect, bullying, gaslighting and parentification.

Like many children growing up in those circumstances, I learnt to survive by keeping my feelings to myself. I became good at appearing to cope while quietly carrying anxiety, hypervigilance and a deep sense that there was nowhere safe to turn.

HOW I MADE IT THROUGH

Despite everything, I found reasons to keep going.

Writing, music, humour, yoga, fitness and eventually long-distance running became ways of rebuilding my life. They didn't erase the past, but they helped me discover resilience I never knew I had.

Recovery from complex trauma is rarely a straight line. There are setbacks, detours and moments when it feels as though you've gone backwards. But every step still counts.

A BLINDSIDING HEALTH SETBACK

In recent years I faced another unexpected challenge.

A combination of chronic fatigue, repeated injuries, uric acid, burnout and ultimately NSAID enteropathy caused by a reliance on Ibuprofen led to severe internal bleeding. I was admitted to St George's Hospital dangerously anaemic, twice, and required seven blood transfusions over two weeks.

Suddenly I went from trying to stay fit to relearning how to walk confidently along hospital corridors. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life.

Thanks to outstanding medical care, determination and the support of others, I gradually recovered.

FROM HIKING BACK TO RUNNING

Recovery took six months. After leaving hospital, I began again from almost nothing.

I returned to Cuckmere Haven where I had been trying to get over panic disorder, and started walking again. Week by week I went a little further, chipping away and rebuilding both my confidence and my fitness until I learn to negotiate the disorder.

Eventually those walks became hikes across the Seven Sisters. The hikes became running again, elsewhere.

Although injury prevented me from completing the Weald Challenge Half Marathon in 2026, it proved something far more important: I was in a better place. Today my blood tests are back to normal, and I'm stronger and healthier than I've been for a long time. I'm excited about what lies ahead.

WHY THE NSPCC

When I was growing up, I often wished there had been somewhere safe and trusted to turn.

Childline didn't exist in the way it does today, and speaking openly about childhood trauma was far less accepted than it is now. There were times when I genuinely felt frightened, alone and unheard. That's why supporting the NSPCC means so much to me.

The NSPCC gives children something every child deserves: a trusted adult who listens, believes them and helps keep them safe before a difficult childhood becomes a lifetime of consequences.

I'm running because I want more children to grow up knowing that someone will listen, someone will believe them and someone will act. Every child deserves that chance.

ROAD TO LONDON 2027

This marathon is about far more than one day in April. It's a celebration of recovery, resilience and hope.

Over the next nine months I'll be sharing my Road to London 2027 journey—the training, the setbacks, the progress and everything in between.

I'm also planning a series of fundraising events that I hope many of you will join, hopefully including:

Sponsor a Mile – sponsor one of the 26.2 marathon miles.

Game of Toads Charity Tournament, with prizes, raffles and fundraising.

A Brighton training run and social event, finishing at a local pub.

Guess My Marathon Time competition.

More community fundraising events throughout the year.

HELP US REACH OUR TARGET

Our fundraising target is £2,500, and every donation, no matter the size, will help the NSPCC continue protecting children who need someone to stand beside them.

Whether you choose to donate, attend an event, share this page or simply follow the journey, you'll be helping children who need support today.

By sharing my story, I hope to help ensure that fewer children have to carry burdens that were never theirs to bear. Every child deserves the chance to grow up feeling safe, heard and valued.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for supporting the NSPCC.

Together, we can help make sure every child has someone to turn to when they need it most.

Thank you so much for your support.

Jonny x