For most of my adult life I couldn't run for five minutes without getting a big tomato head, feeling extremely breathless and even blacking out a few times.

Fast forward to today and I can run and run and run, and am preparing to spend (hopefully) under 4 hours with a big tomato head running the London Marathon for MSF.

The reason I can run now, is thanks to a bit of my lung collapsing in 2020, and a doctor noticing my unusually big heart on an x-ray. Another scan and I was found to have a large hole in my heart - at its widest bigger than a 50p coin! (watch me try to turn this into a donation ask). It turns out the dizziness and blackouts weren't normal and following a 2 year wait I had open heart surgery in 2022 to close the hole. 3 months post-surgery I tried to run and I was stunned. Stunned at how easy it felt. It was pure freedom and gave me so much joy. Now, running feels like magic and I haven’t looked back.

Although I’ve supported MSF’s work for a long time, my admiration for their work has grown even more in the last couple of years. I have watched as their health care professionals have risked and even lost their lives to provide emergency medical care to people in desperate situations, have set up long-term projects that can stretch for decades, and have and are still bearing witness to injustice and war crimes in order to pressure our governments to do more. From Gaza to South Sudan, from the DRC to Yemen, I know that even after the cameras are gone, MSF will be there.

Everytime I run, I am reminded how lucky I am to live in a country where my heart condition was diagnosed, where I got world class surgical care and the time and safety to recover. I want to help others to have that. I want you to help me!

- £21 can help pay for masks to resuscitate three newborn babies.

- £43 could pay for a blood pressure monitor to help detect underlying health issues.

- £95 could provide antiretroviral drugs for a year for one person living with HIV/AIDS.

- £153 could buy a basic surgical kit, enabling an MSF surgeon to carry out surgery.

- £306 can pay for an emergency kit to dress 100 wounds.

BONUS BONUS BONUS

**Alsooo - anyone donating £150 or more is getting a video call from me in the last km of the marathon and we’re crossing the finish line together!! HIT ME UP FOR MORE DETAILS or put a way of contacting you in your donation message if you don’t know me like that.

Thank you!!!