Thanks so much for visiting my page. It is a great privilege to be given the opportunity to run the London Marathon 2025 for CRY.

When we hear about statistics we rarely take them in often thinking those numbers could never be about your family or friends. But in the UK alone, 12 young people die of undiagnosed heart conditions every week.

I can vividly remember famous cases such as Christian Eriksen, Tom Lockyer and Fabrice Muamaba, who all suffered a cardiac arrest due to undiagnosed heart conditions. But anyone's life can change in a heartbeat.

My cousin James’ passion was football and he played for many teams. He was in his first year of a psychology of physical education degree at St Mary's Twickenham and wanted to follow in his parent's footsteps and become a teacher. He had been in a friend's room in his college halls playing video games when he suddenly collapsed.

James Jackson died on the 20th March 2001 at the age of 19. His death left his many family and friends grief stricken and unable to understand how a healthy and fit teenager could just suddenly die.

When looking for answers, my aunt came across CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) in its early stages. They informed her about Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, usually caused by an underlying heart condition leading to cardiac Arrhythmia which can be genetic. The family were screened and thankfully given the all-clear.

CRY works tirelessly to offer screenings to as many areas in the UK as possible. They carry out vital research into why events like this occur and now provide invaluable support to both survivors and bereaved families. I have been screened through CRY who came into my school, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar, to provide testing for students.

My friend Ben is a talented cricketer at Bexley Cricket Club who after finishing school took up the opportunity to play for the Darren Lehman Cricket Academy in Australia. Whilst enjoying a holiday in Perth with family just before heading to the academy, the then 18-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest. Ben had an undiagnosed abnormality in his heart and spent 72 hours in a coma. He has made an amazing recovery and has been fitted with an internal defibrillator. Ben and his family went on to organise fundraisers for CRY including a 24/7 static bike ride for the whole of Bexley CC's Cricket week, which has allowed screenings to be done to identify undiagnosed heart conditions in young people in our area.

I am currently attending college in Kansas, USA on a soccer scholarship, and will return home to London the day before the marathon. The weather here has been less than ideal for my marathon training as we have faced blizzards and temperatures dropping below -20°C up to late February. It also doesn’t help that I seem to have the attention span of a 7-year-old, the knees of a 70-year-old and require surgery following the event.

It is a great privilege to have been given the opportunity to run the London Marathon 2025 for CRY and an immense honour to run in memory of James and enhance the legacy that he continues to leave behind. If the money that I can help to raise for CRY can help to prevent even one more instance, every single meter will be worth it many times over.

Any donations will be greatly appreciated and will allow young people to receive screenings that could save their life.

You can follow my progress on Strava and I will try to post updates on my Tiktok.

https://strava.app.link/8hS9tRYHwRb

https://www.tiktok.com/@liammorgan49?_t=ZN-8uT4sukrNKM&_r=1

Thank you,

Liam