On October 2nd 2022 I am running the London Marathon 2022 to raise money for the Stroke Association, a wonderful charity close to mine and my families hearts.

Its hard to shorten Elsa's story or to know where to start but please read our story below and donate to a charity whose amazing work supports survivors of strokes and their families...

A full term pregnancy and a straight forward labour but May 2020 at 6 months old our daughter Elsa's life changed forever...

Elsa was taken into hospital where we was told she had a neurological condition called Hydrocephalus for which she underwent brain surgery and a series of tests. Two weeks later after recently being let home, Elsa was inconsolable in the early hours and had to be rushed back into hospital where it was found she had suffered a large stroke on the left side of her brain.

This has left her with severe right sided weakness, she is now 2 and a half years old and is unable to crawl, walk, sit up unattended or even eat or drink. As a family we know we will face many more challenges and only time will tell how Elsa has truly been affected by her stroke.

Following this she has been diagnosed with other health conditions, Renal artery Stenosis, high blood pressure, heart failure, stomach ulcers and Neurofibromatosis Type 1.

Elsa has undergone over 20 surgical procedures from May 2020 to current day with more to come in the future. As a family we have spent over a year of Elsa's young life living in Evelina Children's Hospital and Great Ormond Street, with long stays in intensive care not knowing if she will ever come home.

Throughout this time the world was being effected by the Covid 19 Pandemic. This meant only one of us was allowed to be by her bedside at a time and unable to stay with her through the night in hospital. No visitors from friends or family was allowed.

To manage her condition she receives constant care from some very specialist people to give her the best chance of recovery.

Elsa has life changing disabilities effecting mobility, learning and behaviours. It is not until you or your family are affected by something like this, that you truly realise the hard work charities, such as the stroke association, do to support survivors of strokes and their families.

I am pleased to say at this moment in time Elsa is doing extremely well considering all she has been through. The bravery she has shown throughout her young life has been incredible. 

Now anyone who knows me will agree that long distance running is not something that comes naturally to me. So this will be a huge challenge for me to complete, but if Elsa can go through all she has, then i can achieve this. It will be an incredible experience and most importantly raise money to support families like ours.

Childhood Stroke can happen at any age; affecting babies (including in the womb), children and young people. More than 400 children are diagnosed with strokes every year.

The Stroke Association are the UK's leading stroke charity, delivering amazing, life-changing support to over 70,000 stroke survivors and their families each year.Without people raising funds for the Stroke Association they could not provide the support and research that they do. Your donations are so important to rebuilding lives after stroke.Where your support goes:- £80 could allow a a stroke survivor to attend a six week communication computer course- £199 could pay for one hour of Helpline activity- £310 could pay for the initial training and expenses of a befriending volunteer- £1,685 could pay for a fitness coach to provide stroke specific exercise rehabilitation- £40,000 funds a Lectureship Award for stroke doctor, nurse, therapist or scientist for a year- £450,000 fully funds a Priority Programme Award in haemorrhagic stroke, vascular dementia and stroke, or the psychological and cognitive impact of stroke, which would run over the course of 5 years