10 Marathons in 10 Months for www.adhdfoundation.org.uk

Seven year old Oscar, has decided to run 10 marathons in 10 months, raising money and awareness for ADHD.

As outgoing, extroverted and confident as Oscar is, behind closed doors, he was extremely anxious, overthought everything in forensic detail, his brain never disengages & he settles on the worst case scenario.

Once we read and read…and read about ADHD, we realised not only did Oscar need extra support, but the extreme end of his symptoms defined him perfectly. It was like reading his biography.

The obvious challenges started in early 2023 when Oscar stopped eating altogether after developing a real fear of choking & dying. He would panic about eating any meal/snack, over-chewing every bite for 30+ seconds & choking whenever he tried to swallow, leading him to spit out his food. This led him to limit his choices of foods to those that were easy to swallow but then he simply refused to eat altogether.

The worst bit was he wanted to eat, he was desperate to eat, but he was a prisoner in his own mind, jumping from logical to irrational. It was exhausting for him so he just didn't eat and nothing we could do or say would help.

The knock-on effects were profound; he couldn't exercise (which helps stabilise his ADHD), communicate effectively or even sleep well, and the best advice we got from doctors was just make sure he's drinking water - if it gets worse come back and see us!

There's just no help from the NHS unless he got much, much worse. It was a long and steady road that took three months to get back to normal but even now, he won't eat some foods and still over-chews many of his meals, but he manages it well.

Around the same time, Oscar also feared his heart would stop at any given moment. He would continuously feel for a pulse or check his heart was beating 100+ times a day. He would stop whatever he was doing & if he found a pulse, let out an enormous sigh of relief. If he couldn’t find a pulse or a heartbeat, he would quickly spiral into a panic, really believing, physically shaking, wailing, losing complete control that he was about to die. His eyes would open wide and an almighty scream would follow, collapsing to the floor in shock that he was just about to die.

Trying to rationalise those fears to a six year old, who can’t concentrate enough to listen for more than a few seconds; a boy who in his head, finishes your sentence after hearing your first word and draws his own catastrophic conclusions, is ridiculously scary. The stress for him was 24/7 & this affected every aspect of his life.

There is still a misconception with people as soon as you mention ADHD, that it’s just 'boys being boys' and 'trigger happy doctors', but living with it is very different and it's these misconceptions we'd like to address to raise awareness.

One of the many coping mechanisms for ADHD is extreme exercise and this is prevalent in Oscar. Football in general has been Oscar's saviour as it stimulates & focuses his mind but alongside football five times a week, Oscar participates in snowboarding, basketball, swimming & gymnastics. However, in typical Oscar style that's not enough and his only thought is how can he do more. Now Oscar would like to challenge himself by running 10 marathons in 10 months!

We have broken this down into two 4-5 mile sessions per week, helping Oscar achieve his goal with the support of a before-school running club. Any donation big or small, will really encourage Oscar to know he has such widespread support & being a part of his journey would mean to world to us.

Dave & George