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On September 14th 2025 I will hopefully be running the Richmond Marathon (my first marathon!) and raising money for Thrombosis UK. I also did a mini Five event for World Fives day (see the bottom)

Why Thrombosis UK?

In October 2023 I ran my last half Marathon (the Oxford Half), two weeks later, the night before going to the Midlands Fives tournament, I was in hospitals with breathing difficulties. I had bilateral pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in both lungs) and significant right lung damage. It was humbling to go from a full active life to unable to speak a full sentence or walk a few metres without breathlessness, unable to lie down for weeks and having to rebuild my sporting capacity for months.

As someone who knew next to nothing about this, who never thought it was something that would happen to me, and should have gone to hospital much earlier when the symptoms started to present I am running to raise awareness of this and raise some money for the charity

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) can affect anyone regardless of age, gender or ethnicity. It can include deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE).

According to Thrombosis UK:

Please do read the link below to educate yourself on the symptoms and risk factors.

https://thrombosisuk.org/patient-information/patient-information-resources/

Moving Forward

From this experience:

- I have a greater appreciation for my body, and that it was healthy and fit enough to deal with the stress it was facing - I was lucky. It has solidified the importance to me of movement and an active lifestyle. Doing a marathon has always been an aim but I want to enjoy the training process - so let me know if you want to join me for a training run.

- I learnt to listen to my body more and not brush off symptoms to be “strong”. I waited for myself to be in a lot of pain before asking for help and I was expecting to be back at work the next week. Recovery took months as the clots dissolved and I had to respect the pain, exhaustion and frustration that came on that journey

- I read stories of those who have been turned away with these symptoms (like Serena Williams) and so as well as raising awareness of the signs, I want to promote advocacy for yourself if you feel something is wrong.

So please donate if you wish and can to help Thrombosis UK and myself raise more awareness of this disease and how to prevent it.

Thanks and much love.

Emily

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Event 1

On May 8th I will be hosting the Twenty Fives Event at Highgate for World Fives Day 2025 In the EFA’s centenary year. Twenty Fives Players will be playing Twenty Fives (an adaption of Eton Fives when you play each set to 20 with the aim to get to 20x5=100 as a pair or court - which is potentially a lot of fives for one Thursday evening).

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