5 years ago, our daughter Annabelle, who was 3 at the time was placed into an induced coma at our local hospital and rushed by ambulance to the Intensive Care Unit at St Thomas' Hospital. Annabelle had a severe case of croup, along with a really severe chest infection and despite the best efforts of the doctors at our local hospital, she was getting worse.

We ended up in the ICU for around 5 days before thankfully Annabelle was well enough to be moved onto the ward for a further couple of days and then finally allowed back home. During what was the most horrendous time of our lives, every single person associated with the hospital Foundation went above and beyond for us, keeping us informed every step of the way in a calm, reassuring manner, ensuring we had food and water, giving us a bed in the hospital and later a room at the Ronald McDonald hotel (who were equally as brilliant) and most importantly looking after Annabelle and helping her to get better, thankfully.

May was also heavily pregnant during this and again, we couldn’t have asked for anymore. She was so well looked after throughout; we were taken to the maternity ward for a check up and had her bloods taken in case she went into labour whilst we were in the hospital. She went past her due date whilst we were there but thankfully Ella was able to hold on and was born the morning after we all returned home from the hospital!

It means a great deal to have the privilege of representing Guy's & St Thomas' during the 2025 London marathon and I hugely appreciate all and any donations received; as we've seen first hand how important the funding is and the brilliant work that's achieved through it. So thank you!

By running the London Marathon, I'll be supporting the incredible NHS staff and exceptional healthcare provided by Guy's and St Thomas'.

Your donations will help pioneer new approaches, support the on-going efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and back the remarkable teams through health and wellbeing programmes.

To give you an idea of the impact of your donation:

£10 can help improve rest areas so dedicated staff can properly recharge during long shifts.

£100 could help pay for one-to-one counselling for staff coping with the demands of working in a busy, high-pressured environment.

£350 could fund ground-breaking new research into treating Long COVID.

Thank you so much for your support!