I have been given the opportunity to run The TCS 2022 London Marathon on behalf of the Children's Liver Disease Foundation. #TeamCLDF

Running a Marathon has been on my bucket list for a few years now after running the Bedford Half Marathon in 2018 for the MND association, but I hadn't found the spark needed to ignite the fire under me to take the plunge on this massive challenge.
That was until now; inspiration came in the form of one of my daughter Elise's favourite people in the world; her friend Olivia.
Elise and Oliva met at pre-school and have formed a lovely friendship. Oliva is funny, bubbly and beautiful inside and out and most of the time bounces around with the same carefree abandon as any other 4 year old. However Olivia is living with incurable liver disease which makes her quite poorly from time to time, resulting in her needing hospital treatment and frequent tests and monitoring. Ultimately as the disease progresses she will need a liver transplant.
The Children's liver Disease Foundation do lots of critical work not only researching the disease and developing possible treatments, but also critically supporting children like Olivia and their families.

Oliva's Mummy completed the Marathon last year for Team CLDF and absolutely smashed it. Following her journey and learning about the great work the CLDF do for Children like Oliva was the spark I needed to kick my ambition into being. So I applied to the CLDF and was very lucky to be selected by them to be part of their marathon team, in exchange commiting to raise £2000 and of course doing what I can to raise awareness of what they do.
This opportunity turned a somewhat selfish personal goal into something that could also really make a difference.

And so as I embark on my training journey to the start line on Sunday 2nd October 2022, I am here asking anyone who can spare some money to sponsor me to take on my first (and most likely, only) Marathon on behalf of the CLDF.
Your money will really help the CLDF with their research into treatments and allow them to provide support to Children just like Olivia.

I have also set up a Facebook group where I will post regular updates on my progress, so please join me in this group; all shouts of encouragement / advice / music & podcast recomendations gratefully received.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.