Liv’s story

Hello x

I am so happy to have been offered a place to run the 2026 London Marathon for Meningitis Research Foundation. I have chosen to fundraise for this charity as I want to help MRF achieve their goal of a world free from meningitis and they helped me through the worst experience (twice!).

In 2022 at 27 years old, I contracted bacterial meningitis which changed my life forever. The disease left me with permanent disabilities, complications and chronic symptoms including becoming profoundly deaf, post meningitis syndrome and CFS.

Fast forward to the end of 2024 and I unfortunately contracted the disease again (!!) which the consultants put down to be ‘very bad luck’. This made my original symptoms worse and was diagnosed with PTSD, depression & anxiety. I had to leave my teaching career behind me due to the impact the disease has had, and life had to slow down a lot but I am feeling very lucky with what I walked away with as this disease can kill in a matter of hours if not treated urgently.

Since then, I have defied the odds of being told I would never recover and that my new normal would be a life on medication trying to manage painful symptoms. I healed from my symptoms through perseverance and changing my diet, began practising Pilates & when I had more energy I also began strength training.

My hearing unfortunately won’t come back, however I decided to turn the awful experience with meningitis into a positive as it drove me into the direction of my new career path and passion. I retrained a pilates instructor & nutrition coach, and set up my business coaching people online & in person. I now share the amazing benefits of combining pilates, strength & nutrition with others!

The London Marathon has always been something I said I’d love to complete, but I have never had the opportunity to do so, especially with everything going on. However I am so excited to be running it in 2026 and raising money for a charity so close to my heart.

I want to fundraise to help those whose lives have been impacted by meningitis and raise awareness that meningitis can affect people severely at any age, it doesn’t discriminate and it is the most horrific disease which needs more attention as the signs and symptoms can be misleading.

I would be more than grateful if you could donate to help us reach (and surpass!!!) our target by April 2026 where we will be crawling to that finish line! This is something I never thought I’d be able to do given the circumstances so this is overwhelmingly exciting and so glad I get to do it for a charity that means so much!

Thank you so much

Liv xx