Why the London Marathon?

Firstly, thanks for getting this far. The fact you are reading this means you’re at least mildly interested in what I am doing! I know a lot of people ask for sponsorship these days so I thought I would make my one and only sponsored marathon an epic one and what greater event to take part in than one of the biggest in the world, The London Marathon 2024! I started running in the Summer of 2020 and it’s got me through some pretty dark times including two wedding day postponements, losing loved ones, covid lockdowns and suffering baby loss, amongst what's also been a pretty crap 2023 so far (I won’t go into that). In 2023 I have completed the Surrey, Worthing and Thames Half Marathon in a bid to spur on my running journey (some would say a midlife crisis!). Bearing in mind that my knees are only going to last so long, I've decided to make this my forever finish line, so please dig deep and sponsor me as I’m only doing it the once!!

Who am I running for?

As many of you know Rich and I were expecting a baby girl, Jessie in 2021 who had a diagnosis of an extremely rare sacroccygeal teratoma (SCT) which is a tumour that formed on her tailbone. I was under the specialist care of St George’s Hospital who were able to use state of the art equipment to measure the blood supply to and from the tumour and gave us the medical and emotional support we needed to get through what was undoubtedly the toughest and most agonising period of our lives. The hospital explained that Jessie would need extensive surgery should she survive the pregnancy and birth, and would very likely need full time medical care with a compromised and limited life expectancy. Sadly Jessie was delivered on 16th April 2021 following an impossible decision to end her life to prevent her from suffering any long term pain or disability and the likelihood of her surviving was minimal. This is why running for a children’s charity, The Evelina is so close to my heart and I am so honoured to be running for such an incredible charity. 

Life never feels complete without you Jessie and I’ll do this completely in your honour on what would have been a week after your 3rd Birthday. 

Your Support

I really hope that over the next few months you will feel inspired to either donate or stick your trainers on and come and share some training miles with me. The encouragement and support means just as much as the donations (but still donate if you can!). Hopefully nobody reading this will need the Evelina’s support but for those that will, it will be their lifeline and only hope of some quality and extension of life, hence my target is high and I am relying on good will and generosity in such hard times.

The Evelina

Every year more than 103,000 children and young people experience the wonderful warmth of Evelina London, which is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. 

My last and final plea, if you’re free Sunday 21st April 2024, and are up for being part of the cheer squad, please come to along (you can help carry me home)! 

Thank you for reading my just giving page and an even bigger thank you if this spurs you onto donate to my London Marathon fundraising in memory of