Below is my cousin’s story on how I was fortunate enough to get a position in the 2024 London Marathon running for the Salvation Army.

We are cousins whose family have the Salvation Army Close to our hearts with our grandparents, aunts and uncles all working for the Salvation Army at various times in their lives:

I am a fifty something woman who has wanted to run the London Marathon for many years. I’ve always been inspired by my amazing dad who ran it many years ago. I have never been able to fully commit to the time required for training, and if I am being honest, I never believed I could ever complete it. To finally be selected to run the London Marathon was literally a dream come true, and what an honour to be chosen and run and raise money at the same time for such a wonderful charity, one that is close to our families hearts, as a number of family members were in The Salvation Army over the years.

My dad had run numerous marathons over the years, the London Marathon to name a few, but due to a back injury he could no longer run long distance. He would have loved the opportunity to complete the Marathon one more time, but sadly this summer he lost his battle with Oesophagus Cancer and passed away peacefully. I promised him that I would run the Marathon and was so upset he would not get to see me achieve one of my dreams. I was also running in honour of my dear old ‘Grampie’ (My dad’s dad) who died a few months before his 100th birthday. Following a stroke at 96 he sadly was no longer able to walk. He used to enjoy nothing more than to listen to the Salvation Army Brass Band whenever he had the chance and one of my last memories of him was his last Christmas and we wheeled him in his wheelchair to listen to the Salvation Army band at our local garden centre.

There’s a cruel twist to my story: my knee became really painful and inflamed while training. After several physiotherapy sessions and seeing a consultant, my knee did not appear to be improving. I was given the bad news that i would need keyhole surgery if i was to ever run again. I was told to stop any training immediately and I would have to give up my running space in March. I was devastated; i felt i had let myself down, my dad down and the Salvation Army down.

This is where my hero - my younger cousin Tony enters the story. He had himself a number of setbacks last year whilst training. At only 49 he suffered a mini-stroke and for a few months was unable to undergo any cardio and his hopes of training in 2023 for the 2024 London Marathon seemed a distant memory. However he got himself back on track with his training regime once given the all clear to run again. He has been running mini marathons and crazy endurance courses like tough-mudder as part of his training and I am pleased to announce that he is taking my position for the Salvation Army London Marathon 2024.

Please help Tony to raise our target so that together we can make so many other people’s lives that much better. I am a believer in no pain no gain, so training is going to really hurt him, but knowing we have such fantastic friends and family supporting him all the way and willing him on, I know he can achieve our target donation. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts xxx

The Salvation Army provides specialist support to protect and care for all adult survivors of modern slavery in England and Wales; extending a helping hand to those who are homeless, lonely and in need. They run clothing and food banks to name a few and they believe passionately that no one is beyond hope, however great their challenges.