My Story

I'm back at it again.

After completing my 0-100km challenge for Mind in 2019, which included runnning 3 ultra marathons and Berlin Marathon, I am back fundraising again for this incredible charity by running the London Marathon in April 2024 and asking for you donations to help Mind continue to offer mental health support to everyone that needs it. Even though 1 in 4 people have mental health problems, most of us don’t get the help we need. This has to change.

I have previously documented my struggle with my mental health in the build up of my ultramarathon journey. In fact I took up running as a part of my recovery and me trying to deal with my struggles.

While running didn't cure me, it certainly gave me some of the tools, headspace and coping mechanisms to deal with what was going on in my head.

You may or may not know that in the last couple of years, since the last challenge, that my health has continued to spiral and deteriorate. Last November I finally was diagnosed with a paraganglioma, an incredibly rare, chemically active, tumour attached to my bladder, that had been dropping adrenaline into my system non-stop for years, causing all sorts of physical and mental problems in my body.

I finally had surgery to remove the tumour in July 2023 and hopefully begin my journey back towards a normal life.

Starting back running now, I am starting from scratch again. Starting behind square 1, with 0 fitness and an inability to run a mile without stopping but a passion and desire to get back to where I was, smash the goals I set myself back in 2019 and continue to prove and encourage everyone to believe that you can do anything. In 2019 I went from never having ran 5k to running 100k in one go. This time around I am going from surgery to 26.1 miles

Throughout this period of ill health, spanning several years, I have had to battle with my mental health, not just my physical health. Once again I was fortunate enough to have support system around me to help, as well as support from the NHS, a luxury not everybody has. Something that Mind want to change.

We’re Mind. We’re here to fight mental health. For support for respect, for you.

We change minds across England and Wales by making mental health an everyday priority. By standing up to the injustices – in healthcare, in work, in law – which make life harder for those of us with mental health problems.

We support minds – offering help whenever you might need it through our information, advice and local services.

And we connect minds. Bringing together an unstoppable network of individuals and communities – people who care about mental health to make a difference.

Join us in the fight for mental health. We won’t stop until everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets both support and respect.