My Story

I'm currently going through a very difficult time in my life, one I never imagined would ever happen to me. On the morning of February 3rd 2024, my brother found my dad on our kitchen floor, unconscious, lifeless, and completely covered in his own sick. He immediately cleared the sick from his face and rolled dad into the recovery position to then start CPR. This saved my dad’s life. 

Just before this happened, probably about 5 minutes before, I was at my partners house on facetime to my mum who was also in the house with dad, but in her bedroom, and all of a sudden I heard my brother scream at the top of his voice my mums name, in which she immediately went into panic and dropped her phone and ran down to the kitchen. I jumped out of bed and drove home having no idea what was going on but knowing it was something serious...

From this moment on, my life turned upside down. Air ambulance, ambulance cars, ambulance vans, all racing down the village roads and onto my driveway. My mum in a heap on the floor outside telling me not to go inside, neighbours pulling me away and sitting me down to tell me briefly what has happened and that they don't know the outcome of this but just to have hope and trust the doctors are looking after him now. 

I have never in my life felt shock and pain like it, to think the night before was possibly the last ever time in my life I see my dad well again, or even alive. I think to myself, I am only 24 years old, I'm too young to lose a parent. None of us knew what had actually happened and how dad ended up on the kitchen floor, the night before he was absolutely fine, he just felt a bit sick, nothing sinister. We all thought maybe dad had a heart attack, or he's just collapsed. None of us realised the extent of the accident, we never believed it was some serious brain damage. Dad was a strong, fit and healthy man. 

Long story short, we all get to the hospital to be told Dad has had a catastrophic brain injury and large bleed to the brain and we have just five minutes to make a decision on whether to perform life saving surgery where he may come back to us not knowing who we are, with no independence, not be able to communicate and have to spend the rest of his life in a care home, or we don't perform surgery and he dies. As a family, we couldn't bare the thought of not giving dad a chance, so we went ahead with the surgery. It all went well, but that day we were still told dad probably isn't going to make it through the night, so to say our goodbyes... 

My dad is my best friend, nobody loves me as much as him, he cries just seeing me smile or laugh, he absolutely adores me and it's breaking my heart every day that I can't just hear his voice, or talk to him about my day. While this has been going on, it's given me a lot of time to reflect, and realise life really is short. I want to make my dad proud and step out of my comfort zone. Dad has always loved watching Athletics on the TV, and he'd always call me in the room to watch the female running race. Every time he'd say "You'd be a great runner my darlin" so now I feel it's my time to do what he'd love me to do and shine. I've never been a runner before, I've never really had the motivation. But since Dad's accident happened, this huge wave of determination came over me. Through the frustration of what's happening and how much I want to fight for him as much as he's fighting to still be here. So, I've been going out on runs regularly and it's honestly helped me to even just cope. I can clear my head, I can shake off bad energy and just know that while I'm running, I'm one step closer to making my dad even more proud. The London Marathon has been calling my name and I’m so grateful to have something amazing to focus on and train my absolute hardest for to be able to take part in this incredible event. 

…nearly 5 months later, 5 surgeries later, and here we are. Dad is still here, he is still fighting, and he is slowly making progress. He is out of a coma and after a long time in a minimally conscious state, he is now more awake and is starting to respond to commands. We ask him to stick his tongue out, and he does, he now is beginning to recognise us and smile when we walk into the room, he puckers his lips for a kiss, he puts his thumb up and he is visually tracking a lot better. He is very much trying to talk, but mainly, he is fighting, and improving. While we know this is a very long road ahead of us, we can only appreciate every sign of progression he is now beginning to show us and this is where rehabilitation plays a vital role in his recovery.

The charity I have chosen to run for is very close to my heart.  Dad has been in Southampton General Hospital in the Neuro ICU, then back to Salisbury into Stroke ward, then finally into a Neuro rehabilitation centre in Bristol which is currently where he is now and I have to say the doctors, nurses and neuro surgeons amaze me. The knowledge and skills they have is un-comprehendable and this charity in particular helps to develop this knowledge. Every single day I am learning something new about the brain and how it works. I find myself sometimes just sat next to dad and thinking to myself, who on earth decided one day, 'I know how to remove half of someone’s scull from their head to allow for swelling, then keep the skull safely under the skin of their abdomen to keep it alive.’ ‘I know how to insert a VPR shunt into someone's head to drain CSF fluid.’ ‘I know how to drain CSF fluid from someone's spine to prevent a further build up of pressure in someone's brain.’ It completely sends shivers through my entire body to think we are this lucky to be in this day and age and have incredible surgeons who know exactly how to perform life saving and changing procedures to give someone their best shot at pulling through and surviving such a significant brain injury.  

I take my hat off to the research and the time and effort that goes into this type of work. The knowledge and intensity of care from Neuro staff amazes me beyond belief and without them, my dad wouldn't still be here today. The absolute least I could do, is raise money for such an incredible charity to be able to continue to do top research on the most complex topic I've ever known. It feels an honour for me to make even just the smallest difference. 

For me, while dad is busy getting better and stronger, this has to be my perfect opportunity to get stuck into my running even more and have that motivation and determination to keep going, and at the end of it, run one of the biggest running events for in my eyes, the best cause. 

Dad's journey is also our new path in life now. A huge adjustment, but there is nothing we can do about that now, apart from fight with him, and have every hope and faith that he can pull through this and come home to his family again. 

With your help, I’d love to raise £2,500.00 for Brain Research UK. Every penny donated, helps with this charity’s main aim of prolonging and bettering people’s lives with neurological conditions by enabling scientific and medical advances that will extend survival in diseases that reduce life-expectancy and, ultimately, to cure and even prevent these conditions.

To donate, you’ll find the link in my bio and I really would appreciate every penny you are willing to give.

I have to say a very personal Thank you to a couple of teams in-particular… To all the surgeons and nurses at Southampton Hospital and Salisbury Intensive Care Unit, you have taken care of my dad since the very first day and throughout the toughest months of stabilising him. I cannot find the words to thank you all enough for saving his life and allowing us this potential opportunity to now have him in rehabilitation in the hope that we can bring him home.

And one last message to the man that brought me into this world… My dad you are my inspiration, and for this future I promise to forever do you proud in any way that I can… Let’s start with London Marathon. And who knows? With your fight and the strength & determination I know you still have, maybe you could be there at the finish line. 🏁