On the 23rd of April 2023 I am going to be running the London Marathon. 3 weeks later on the 14th of May, I will also run the Leeds Marathon. I will then also run the Great Northern Half Marathon run on September 10th to continue raising funds for The Fire Fighters Charity in honour of my My Hero, My Dad, Darren Paul Abrams, who I lost so suddenly on the 17th of November. 

My life will never be the same and I’m struggling to accept that life has to carry on without him. It’s not fair. It seems like it would be so easy just to give up on everything, but I know that I can’t and that my Dad would want me to carry on living life and to keep achieving and believing in myself & my goals. He always believed in me so much and encouraged me and my brothers, Oliver and William and my sister Emily, to do great things and be the best that we can be in anything that we strive for. His passion, strength and drive for life will live on in us forever.

My Dad was part of the West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, Red Watch Team at Hunslet Fire Station, Leeds. He was set to retire this year and was due to receive an award for serving 20 years in the Fire Service. He absolutely loved his job and put his heart and soul in to everything that he did. He always wanted to be the best and do the best that he could in every aspect of his life and worked so hard for our family. He is and always will be my biggest inspiration. He and his colleagues are real life Hero’s and it makes me so proud to say that he is and always will be a fire fighter who saved so many people. 

My Dad spoke about how he was going to start paying in to The Fire Fighters Charity, as a way of giving back. The Fire Fighters Charity provide help for serving and retired fire fighters and their families all over the UK, that may be needing support in different aspects of their lives, mentally, physically and socially. 

To be able to run the London Marathon in April is something I could only have ever imagined, but to be able to do it for my Dad, and for a charity that means a lot to him and us as a family is something that will be very special to me forever. Then a few weeks later, run the Leeds Marathon, in the city that my Dad was born and raised in, and spent his whole life serving in, means more to me than anything in life. 

Everything I do in my life will be to honour him and make him proud. I can only hope to be as great as he is. You will always be with me in my mind, thoughts and heart Dad, every single day. My hero always ♾ I will miss you forever and love you infinitely Dad ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

(I'm running the 2023 TCS London Marathon AND the Leeds Marathon in support of The Fire Fighters Charity. They provide specialist lifelong support for members of the UKs fire services community, empowering individuals to achieve mental, physical and social wellbeing throughout their lives.)