I will be running a Half Marathon at the Great Bristol Run on the 25th of September for the Stroke Association. The Stroke Association works with stroke survivors and families, rebuilding lives and providing support at a life changing and devastating time. Money raised goes towards vital services, campaigning for better stroke care, and funding research into preventative and rehabilitative treatments. This charity has become extremely important to my family.

In June of this year, my Dad had a severe stroke whilst on his way to work near Oxford. By pure chance, one of the arteries leading to his brain had split open, and caused a clot to block off a major artery supplying his brain. In itself, this was a devastating injury, but it lead to swelling on the brain. This required emergency life saving neurosurgery. My family will be forever thankful to the medical and neurosurgical teams at John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford for saving his life, and providing such a high quality of care to him in his greatest time of need.

Although we are lucky enough to have our amazing Dad, our lives will never be the same again. He has been left with profound disability, and we have an extremely long road ahead of us. We are just one of the many families affected- each year over 100,000 people have a stroke, which is approximately one every five minutes. Before the stroke aged just 56, Dad was extremely healthy and active, indeed the kind of stroke he had is the most common amongst young people. Anyone can be affected.

I've never run a Half Marathon before, and I hope that any money I raise will help people like my Dad, and families like mine.