I ran my first ever half-marathon on 20th July 2025 to support the fantastic research and campaigns of CRY.

This half-marathon marked the biggest step so far in my personal story of rebirth since my heart valve replacement surgery in 2019, which followed several months of debilitating illness eventually diagnosed as Infective Endocarditis. After my surgery, my doctors and surgeons spoke to me about CRY in glowing terms and I’ve always wanted to fundraise for them since.

My surgery, while saving my life from the infection, also fixed a birth defect: a bicuspid aortic heart valve.

I always felt this defect in small ways that I reasoned away as general frailty– such as breathlessness and finding any endurance based exercise extremely taxing. Growing up I was convinced I had asthma, or another condition, but tests said no and the answer didn’t arrive until much later in life.

I never could have imagined doing a half-marathon before my surgery because of these issues– but running has been an incredibly therapeutic experience since I started getting into it around the start of 2024, with my new prosthetic carbon-based valve. I’m especially grateful to Debbie, M and my pa for helping set me on the track in the first place.

I somehow managed to complete my half-marathon at my exact target time of 1:52:30, despite carrying a few injuries I’d picked up in the weeks leading up. There had been heatwaves in London for weeks leading up to the event, but the temperature blessedly dipped to around 20 degrees for my race. I’m chuffed with my run, but can’t wait to do it again even better in future.

I’m humbled to have raised £3000, plus £650 in Gift Aid– way more than my initial target of £1000. I’m boundlessly grateful to the family, colleagues and friends who added their name to my fundraiser page.

CRY were great through the experience, sending me a package of race gear, stickers, and leaflets, with which I was able to distribute and spread awareness with at the annual street party on my road!