Why have I chosen the British Heart Foundation? Well in October 2020 at 4am, my dad, who everyone knows is a tower of strength, suffered a massive heart attack. He was rushed to the Norfolk and Norwich and within days transferred to Papworth in Cambridge. Without a triple heart bypass he wasn't going to make it and so he underwent a gruelling 6 hour surgery. My dad faints at the sight of a needle so to go through such a surgery was incredible and we are all so proud of him.

So, I was due to run (well shuffle) London in April 2024 to support the BHF as a thank you to the research that saved my dad’s life but on New Year’s Day 2024 my world fell apart when I had to say goodbye to my beautiful daughter, who was and still is the most incredible person and my daily inspiration. She suffered a sudden cardiac arrest on Dec 29th and never regained consciousness. Losing a child at any point, regardless of age or their health is unthinkably painful and something from which you can never recover. Parents who have lost children become very adept at putting a facade on - it’s when the door closes at night that the pain resurfaces, the darkness envelopes you and the inevitable ‘why Emily, why not me?’ questions start popping up.

So I contacted the BHF. They have been amazing with offers of support and very kindly agreed to defer my marathon place to 2025.

Those of you who know me, know that I don't like running and never have, but I don’t want any parent to have to go through what I have and continue to do and if my dad can go through what he has I'm damn sure I can do 26.2 miles and raise as much money as I can for the organisation and their research that saved his life and may help early diagnosis of atherosclerosis.

Now the begging bit - please sponsor me. I really don't mind how little you can do as everything and anything will be hugely welcome. It will help countless others in similar situations to my family and give me a massive push and drive to get me over that line. It's going to take a mammoth effort for me to do this (I've already been told I'm mad and won't make it!!) Not only do I really dislike running but I'm also incredibly busy and need to shoehorn the training in. Please, please, please give me a massive incentive to cross that finish line.