I am running for the Stroke Association because my brother Chris suffered a major stroke in 2017 aged 29 years old, which caused him to lose all his communication and logic skills. I want to raise as much money and awareness as I can to help such an amazing charity that did so much to help my brother and our family recover from his stroke.

Running the marathon will be a huge challenge for me as I am not particularly fit, so it will require a lot of training and physiotherapy to be able to make it to the end. I wanted to challenge myself to show Chris how proud I am of him for the recovery he has made, which I have never told him before. I would have given up a thousand times over after seeing what he has been through, and he did it all without moaning or feeling sorry for himself (mostly). 

5 years later you would hardly know he has suffered such a huge brain injury, other than the fatigue. He is an amazing uncle to my children and brother to myself, and I wanted to run the marathon which he knows I will find a humungous challenge, to show him how proud I am of him and the recovery he has made. Also to raise money for others who have also suffered from having a stroke. He is truly inspirational. 

Thank you so much for all your support, I will need every bit of it to make it to the end of the Marathon.

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