Meet Steph and her brother Henry, who both ran the London Marathon for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH Charity) in 2021, raising over £6,000.

The sibling duo wanted to fundraise for GOSH Charity to say thank you to the specialist neurology team at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) who treated Henry when he was just nine years old. Henry spent six weeks at GOSH, where he had six operations to remove a brain tumour in the cerebellum – the area of the brain at the back of the head.

Henry, now 22, says: “I wanted to run the London Marathon to support the incredible work that goes on at GOSH and to say thank you to the staff that saved my life. I also wanted to run in memory of my consultant, Mr William Harkness, who sadly passed away last year.”

Steph adds: “We will be forever grateful to the doctors and nurses that saved Henry’s life, and fundraising was one way of giving back. Even thinking about it makes me emotional because it was so incredible to be able to run the London Marathon to support the hospital. The staff there are truly amazing.”

Talking about her training journey, Steph says: “As someone who was not a runner before signing up, I found the idea of running 26.2 miles really daunting! I started out by telling myself that each weekend I would run for at least an extra 15 minutes. I found it a lot less intimidating to measure time rather than distance, and I ended up reaching my distance goals without realising.”

Steph’s advice for anyone running the 2022 TCS London Marathon is to run for a cause you believe in. “Knowing our training and fundraising was going to make a difference to seriously ill children at the hospital was hugely motivating, and Team GOSH really helped us on our training journey right up until we crossed the Finish Line! The team supported us by providing a specialist marathon coach and a lovely community where we could share tips and encouraging comments in the lead up to the event. Seeing fellow Team GOSH runners on the day was amazing – you can spot the purple from a mile off!”

Steph’s final tip for Event Day is to write your name on your running vest. “Until I was actually running the marathon, I didn’t realise how important it would be for me to have people cheering my name. Whether it was family or friends dotted along the route, or GOSH Charity supporters, staff and volunteers at cheer points, hearing ‘Go Steph!’ kept me going right to the Finish Line. It was an incredible experience and one I will never forget, and I’m so glad I got to share it with my brother.”

To find out more about running the TCS London Marathon for Team GOSH, click here.