I have decided to raise money again by running the London Marathon for the National Brain Appeal – and have also signed up to a couple of half marathons to get me in the mood!

I am going to be running the Royal Parks Half Marathon on the 14 October, followed by the London Landmarks Half Marathon on 24 March, finishing with the London Marathon on 28 April. I think it’s a really important message to continue to exercise regularly as we get older – even if our pace wasn’t what it once was!

The money I raise will go towards the charity’s Neurosurgery fund, which is there to provide state-of-the-art equipment, facilities for The
National’s neurosurgery unit – the largest in the UK. It provides a local, national and international service for specialised neurosurgical problems such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, movement disorders and pituitary tumours. The fund also supports much-needed research.

Previous projects as part of the Neurosurgery fund include the building of a new specialist spinal operating theatre, and the recent doubling in size of the Molly Lane Fox ward for patients with brain tumours.

Thank you to everyone who is generously making a donation to support my upcoming challenges. The National Brain Appeal really does make a vital difference to the care of our patients, and I’m delighted to do my small part to help improve the outcome for patients
affected by neurological conditions.