Hi and welcome to our BESTIE LONDON MARATHON PAGE! 🩷

Yep you heard it! We are running the London Marathon 2025 as a bestie team for Brain Research UK and here’s why….

In July 2022 I (Megan) was diagnosed with a very rare brain condition called a arteriovenous malformation in my brain (AVM) 🧠

As you can imagine this flipped my world upside down and I needed this ticking time bomb out of my brain as soon as possible. I had a then 5 year old daughter, a business, a family and my life just crumbled. Worryingly, my Neurosurgeon was not happy to remove my AVM following many in depth tests as they showed a deep artery causing too high risk of bleeding. I was told due to this, I would not find anyone willing to operate and remove it. After days spent on the phone and searching for any surgeons willing to help me in any country, I luckily found the man in Mr Walsh and after consultations he agreed if I understood the risks and was ok with living the rest of my life with the potential worst outcome he was happy to go ahead.

In March 2023 my husband and I made our way to London for Embolisation followed by a craniotomy the following day to remove this out of my brain. All I have to say is brain surgery isn’t for the faint hearted. The following days brought the craziest of experiences but I was finally AVM free and it was time to allow my body to recover from not only months of agony, but 2 days of invasive work on my brain.

After a year of ups and downs, and some scares along the way I learning to regain my balance without an aid, experienced my vision sneak back bit by bit, regained cognitive skills I didn’t know I’d lost until they were gone however, as the weeks past I lost more and more hair which was a hard pill to swallow considering I had little left! Im at a point in my life where I am wanting to take on my next challenge with the best support by my side. Those who know me will think this is kind of impossible but also know when I set myself a challenge I don’t give up and I am so excited. I would say I definitely could not be doing this alone!

Harriet's idea to run the London Marathon for Brain Research came long before me but crossing that line together will be such an achievement. We can turn what has been an awful experience for everyone close to me into something positive. Trust me when I say supporting someone in this situation must of been awful.

Any donations would be so appreciated to help us on our way whilst completing this crazy challenge we have set ourselves. If I can do something to raise awareness and much needed funds for a charity to gain research to help support any human who has to travel on a journey similar to mine then I am in full support of that! 🖤

See you at the finish line!🏃