I have made the slightly crazy decision to run the Manchester Marathon in 2026. My aim is to raise as much money as I can for Long Covid for Kids.

Unfortunately, as a family we know first hand how long covid can impact a child’s life.

Poppy originally caught covid in March 2022, she went from being the most energetic crazy 6 year old to now not even managing full days at school.

We are incredibly lucky to be looked after by Alder Hey’s long covid team and are finally starting to see some positive changes.

She is the most wonderful child who takes it all in her stride but inevitably the bad days can take their toll and it’s hard to watch. So this feels like the least I could do (or try to do!)

Poppy is very keen for more people to understand long covid so wrote the below and asked me to include it-

Before I had covid I loved climbing mountains and going on long bike rides.

When I got long covid everything changed. People think I look fine but I am not. I hate missing out lots but when I try to play with my siblings or friends I end up feeling really poorly.

I don’t know how to describe how I feel so I find it hard to explain but I just wish I could feel like I did before.

I wish more people understood and I hope long covid for kids can make this happen.

Please sponsor my mum because she’s the only one who understands me and always looks after me even though she’s got lots of other jobs to do.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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