“I’m an only child.”

It’s the first thing I say when someone casually asks about my family. It sounds so simple, so matter-of-fact, that people usually nod and move on without a second thought. But the truth is, that answer isn’t really true.

When I was two years old, my younger brother Finlay died suddenly in his sleep. He was just 9 months old. It happened on Mother’s Day.

My mum, Annie, says she knew the moment she opened her eyes that morning. She had put him down just four hours earlier, and now he was gone. No warning signs, no explanation, no sense of goodbye. My dad, Gavin, was thousands of miles away in Spain for work. In the span of a few minutes, their world fell apart.

I don’t remember Finlay. I was too young to have any real memories of our time together. But the ripple effects of his death on my family have been impossible to miss.

My parents went through the most devastating loss imaginable: losing their baby without warning, without reason, without answers. It’s hard to comprehend how anyone could ever come to terms with that. And yet, through all their grief, they managed to keep showing up. Every day, they were there for me - a toddler who had no idea what her family was enduring.

I often feel like I’ll never be able to repay that. How do you thank someone for surviving the unimaginable, and still finding the strength to love you through it?

As a small way of showing my love and appreciation - for my parents, for Finlay, and for the incredible family and friends who stood by them in their darkest hour - I’ve decided to run the 2026 London Marathon in his memory.

I’ll be raising vital funds for The Lullaby Trust, a charity close to all of our hearts as they provided essential support to my Mum and Dad after Finlay’s passing.

No life should end before it’s had the chance to begin. The Lullaby Trust uses donations to fund vital, potentially life-saving research into the causes and prevention of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Any contribution, big or small, would mean the world to me. Thank you so much for your support.

Let’s do this for Finlay 💛