My Story

On January 3rd 2017, close family friends Kathryn & James along with Daughters Ella, Lucy and Son Johnny were delighted to welcome a new baby sister into the world. Elizabeth was born, a happy and healthy little girl.

At 4 months of age, Elizabeth started becoming constipated and unsettled. Then one evening Kathryn noticed a slight fullness on one side of her tummy. Three weeks after first developing symptoms, Elizabeth was found to have a large tumour on her kidney. She underwent major surgery lasting some 7 hours in an attempt to remove the tumour. The histology came back as a malignant rhabdoid tumour with evidence of spread to the lymph nodes.

The next few months of chemotherapy that followed were a mixture of inpatient stays, transfusions, procedures and ongoing investigations. Understandably, diagnosis of Elizabeth’s cancer had taken a massive impact on the entire family and sadly, the Christmas of 2017 turned out to be Elizabeth’s last.

In March 2018, Elizabeth became increasingly more unsettled and her stomach more swollen. She was taken for further assessments and on March 20th, she underwent an ultrasound. As a result, Kathryn and James sadly received the news that no parent ever wants to hear. Elizabeth’s cancer had relapsed in numerous places. There was no effective treatment available so the plan was to keep her as comfortable as possible.

Elizabeth was cared for at Little Bridge Hospice in Barnstaple. She passed away on 14th April 2018 surrounded by her family, forever 15 months old and having touched so many hearts.

So what’s my mission? On Sunday June 27th 2021, I have signed myself up to run the Exeter Community Trust Half Marathon in honour of Elizabeth. Sponsorship will help contribute to funding which will aid research to find effective treatments for other children and support families. This race forms part of my training road map with the aim to run a full marathon in honour of Elizabeth next year.

Anyone that knows me, whether professionally, as a friend or family member, knows that I won’t just want to 'take part'. I’ll run as hard and as fast as I can, pushing my own mental and physical boundaries to the limits. Taking part alone just doesn’t satisfy me enough. I’m by no means an experienced runner, and this is my first event. All that aside, I’ve given myself a target to complete the race at around the 1 hour 45 minute mark, if I finish quicker or get close, I’d be happy!

Most of us are lucky, every day we have the privilege of making our own choices. Whether that’s the music we listen to, what we have to eat or what we wear. For Elizabeth and her family, there was no choice, so young, bursting with life and character; she battled for as long as she could with the immense amount of love and support from family around her. I’ll always remember her happy little face every time we were lucky enough to visit.

So I’m asking for your help, any contribution possible will help fuel my fire to get the 13 miles (21k) completed in the best time possible. I feel honoured to have the opportunity to run for Elizabeth and will give it my best shot to carry all of her hopes and dreams across the finish line. Thank you for taking time to stop by and read my story, every little helps!