On the 28th December 2023, my brilliant dad, Mark Senior, died suddenly of Coronary Heart Disease whilst at the gym. He was 59.

In 2018, when I was 16, I was watching the London Marathon with my parents when I exclaimed that “one day, I want to do the London Marathon”. My mum joked that I wouldn’t even do a 10k, so that evening, I signed up to the Great North Run (not realising that it was actually a half marathon). That September, I took part in my first GNR and decided that I would, one day, run through the streets of London in the largest marathon in the world.

When my dad died, I turned to research to try and answer the hundreds of questions that I had, and to learn more about what it was that so cruelly turned my life upside down. The research rabbit hole led me to the British Heart Foundation, and the lifesaving work that they do.

Every day in the UK, 190 people die from Coronary Heart Disease. That’s one every 8 minutes. 27% of all UK deaths are caused by heart or circulatory disease - that’s one every three minutes. There are 2.3 million people in the UK living with CHD, and in Huddersfield (my home town) alone, there are 3,400 people living with the disease.

But heart and circulatory disease still kill 1 in 4 people in the UK, and remain the world’s biggest killers. More than half of us will get a heart or circulatory problem in out lifetime. So there is plenty left to do. No family should ever have to go through what mine has gone through. With your help, we can help End Heartbreak Forever.

And so, the BHF seemed like the perfect reason to run the London Marathon in 2025. Running was my solace for a long time, and I hope that by training for the marathon, I can find the peace that I have been missing since the 28th of December.

I’m sure my dad would be very glad to know that I finally decided to make good on my word and (try) to run the London Marathon. Please donate whatever you can - even a pound will make a difference. I only hope that my 26.2 miles of pain is enough to help prevent even one family from going through the suffering that mine has over the last 6 months.

About the BHF

The BHF lead cardiovascular research in the UK. They provide grants for specialist equipment, funding for research projects, and support for new laboratories. They have funded three Centres for Regenerative Medicine, linking together all major UK researchers, working to find ways to repair or regenerate damaged hearts and blood vessels. Since the BHF’s inception, the annual number of deaths from heart and circulatory diseases in the UK has halved, in large part to improved awareness, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.