I have just over a week to go to the London Marathon. I was lucky to get a ballot place and I know lots of friends and colleagues have been frantically fundraising and working hard to cover their places and so I haven't put my fundraiser out there until now.

I also work for a charity and know just how much the cost of living crisis is affecting everyone. It's hard to go to the same people for donations time after time, so I rarely do these things!

BUT, having cried my way over long runs (and doing in my ITBs in the process), I have had a lot of time to think about stuff and process things during those runs. I came to realise what a journey I have been on both physically and mentally and what an accomplishment this will be if I get through it!

I have done a virtual marathon but never had the courage to really tell people about it, in case I couldn't complete them. Well here I am, with a 'proper' place and a once in a lifetime opportunity at the most iconic marathon ever... and I feel compelled to run/jeff it in memory of Isabella and in support of SOFT UK.

For those who don't know, we discovered unexpectedly we were pregnant in 2012, at which point I was considered 'geriatric' in maternity terms! I was on medication at the time which masked signs of pregnancy, but I was feeling quite poorly - a few GP and hospital visits later we eventually found out that I was 4 months pregnant and whilst it was a shock, we were excited.

I took the boys to our 20 week scan and was told we were having a girl - a sister, a daughter. The scan took a long time, but it didn't occur to me something was wrong until I was taken aside from the boys and advised we were being referred to Bristol. The scans and tests pointed to abnormalities and then an amniocentesis confirmed our little girl had Trisomy 13 aka Patau Syndrome, and the prognosis was not good at all.

Our Bristol trip was en route to our annual beach holiday with the boys. Strangers asking when was I due, touching my bump, do you know what you are having yet, are you excited to have a little sister on the way? Answering each question as you would, all the while Dave and I knew it was unlikely I would carry to term. It was heartbreaking, but we put on the brave face for our boys, and tried to prepare them for the inevitable as gently as possible.

So amidst this nightmare time, we needed to find out all we could about Patau Syndrome and SOFT Uk is a very small national charity that provides that information and links to families who have been through the same and we had no where else to turn, they were an incredible help and source of support. You may have heard of them if you watched Eastenders recently with Whitney's baby - the programme drew attention to Edwards and Patau's syndrome.

We also had lots of support from SANDs but as a better known charity, I know they will have many more fundraisers in place already.

We lost Isabella Bennett on 18th August 2012.

https://www.soft.org.uk/what-we-do