When you tell someone you’ve lost a child, the well-meaning response is often, “I can’t imagine how hard that is.” And it’s fair enough — why would anyone want to contemplate such a painful experience?

But when the worst has happened, you really need people who not only can imagine it, but who have lived it, and carry it every day. That’s why we’re eternally grateful for SLOW — a small charity and community helping one another survive and find ways to keep going.

Dylan is the part of our world we lost. Despite a couple of bad genes, he did remarkably well to make it as far as he did — and his little life had a big impact on so many people.

Talking about him is both joyous and heartbreaking. It takes an emotional energy and agility I often don’t have. That’s why SLOW has meant so much to us: community, counselling, and safe space with as much laughter as tears.

Grief feels endless. All you can do is put one foot in front of the other and keep going. In a way, we’ve been training for this half marathon for a long time.

I hope you never need SLOW — it’s a club no one wants to join. But we are all lucky it exists, and that’s why I’m running to raise support for them. If you can, please donate — it will make a real difference.