My Story

In honour of my dearly missed friend, Dominic Hamlyn, I am running the London Marathon in April for the Brain and Spine Foundation. This charity was a cause close to his heart, founded over 30 years ago by Peter, his father. 

Sadly, Dominic passed away suddenly aged 24, and I miss him every day. He was a unique, brave and kind boy, who shaped my teenage years. Since his death I have vowed to "Be More Dom", and that has now taken to me running the London Marathon, as he did in 2014, for the Brain and Spine Foundation. He admitted afterwards that he ran the Marathon in 2014 with "pretty much no training" and over £5,000 was raised, a considerable feat for a 19 year old. 

I am not the natural athlete he was, so have already started, but no doubt I will still be slower than him! I know he will inspire me to push through the dark winter training months, and race day, as his love for adventure and self-confidence continues to inspire me to live my life to the fullest. 

In typical Dominic fashion, that achievement was not enough, and in 2017, he joined his brother, Gabriel, and friends in the Mongol Rally. The group raised £16,444 for the Brain and Spine Foundation.

The benefits of supporting the Brain and Spine foundation can be summed up best using the words from Dominic's Marathon JustGiving page (those who knew him will recognise his tenacious personality):

"Why help? Obvious
The Brain and Spine Foundation is secure. It has been working efficiently for over 20 years and has a proven track record of high quality research, training and patient support.
Did you know that the new Professor of Neurosurgery at no lesser institution than Cambridge University, was started in research by the BSF. Thousands survive because of his and other BSF research. Schumacher will hopefully live to count himself amongst them.
The brain and its spine is the most complex and precious structure yet discovered anywhere in the known universe. A human brain has one trillion neurons each with one million connections. That is more possible combinations than there are atoms in the universe? 
More worryingly it is also our most fragile possession. Did you know that more people die or are disabled by neurological disorders than either heart disease or cancer? And no one is safe. 
 
From cerebral palsy and spina bifida in babies to brain tumours and meningitis in children, to epilepsy and head injury in teenagers to brain haemorrhage, motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis in young adults to stroke and dementia in older adults, it affects us all. 
 
More worryingly still is just how much we are going to need the Brain and Spine Foundation. Though taken together the neurological disorders are more common than any other condition, including heart disease or cancer, the number of specialist units and specialists devoted to the field is lower in Britain than any other developed nation on the planet. Of over 700 hospitals fewer than 30 have a specialist unit with neurosurgeons able to save you. There are no neurosurgeons in the whole of Kent, Cornwall, Wales north of Cardiff (for those of you who don’t do Geography Cardiff is on the south coast!), Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire. If you do a Schumacher in Dover, Brighton, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Bassingstoke, Tunbridge, Saint Albans or Watford, good luck and here is the Brain and Spine Foundation’s telephone helpline – 08088081000.  You should try to remember it. Did you know that fewer than 5% of headinjury victims seriously injured enough to require admission to hospital or brain scanning ever see a specialist. Did you know that in this country, presumably because brain and bone both begin with the letter B, 95% of head injuries are cared for by orthopaedic instead of brain surgeons? And you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to know that is bad. The Foundation makes it better. They have specialist nurses trained to help and made only by your support.   
 
But more important to me than all this is my own story. In my village five young children have just lost their mother to a brain tumour, one family cares for their daughter permanently disabled by a head injury, dementia is darkening the life of several neighbors’ but one fantastically has had his life saved by neurosurgery to release a blood clot on the brain and another freed from intense pain by spinal surgery. One of my best friends lost his dad to a stroke. My baby cousin, Maria, died of a disorder that stopped her brain developing. 
 
When I was a young boy I helped my father fund raising. He and his patient, the injured boxer Michael Watson, along with his carer Lenny, walked the London marathon for the Brain and Spine Foundation. It took them six days and I swore when I was old enough I would run it; in the words of Michael, “for the benefit of others less fortunate than me”.
 
Now, I am pretty confident that I am faster than my dad but I need your to help to raise more money.
 
If you can read this you are indeed more fortunate than those your contribution will help. So please give generously!"

Now, in 2025, 10 years on from Dominic's efforts, I will be running to support the Brain and Spine Foundation, which is now over 30 years old. 

In early 2024, more than 230,000 people were waiting for an NHS neurology appointment, and more than 55,000 people were waiting for NHS neurosurgery in England.  The work of the Brain and Spine foundation is invaluable to provide support during this NHS crisis. 

I would be so grateful for any donations, and thank you in advance for your generosity and support. I will be unashamedly fundraising, as I know that is what Dominic would have done! His legacy and having the opportunity to raise money for this amazing cause is such an honour.