Two parents from St Albans are running the London Marathon to raise funds for The Brain Tumour Charity in memory of their daughter.
Andy and Sarah's daughter Emily tragically died in 2022 aged just eight. She had only been diagnosed eleven days earlier, having complained about feeling "unusual" and having weakness in her right side while on a family holiday.
An MRI scan revealed that she had diffuse midline glioma, one of the most common and aggressive types of brain tumour in children.
Since losing Emily, her family have dedicated themselves to raising money for Emily's Fund at The Brain Tumour Charity, helping to fund further research into finding a cure.
They've raised more than £50,000 in total, with Emily's older brother Harry climbing Scafell Pike, cycling 75k from Addenbrooke's Hospital to St Albans, and now swimming a mile a day in April to complete a marathon distance in the water.
Together with his parents, they also completed a 192km coast-to-coast challenge across the UK to raise money for Tom's Trust, a charity caring for children with brain tumours.
But the London Marathon may be the biggest challenge yet for Andy and Sarah.
Andy explained: “Sarah won't mind me saying that she is definitely not a regular runner and the furthest she has run in recent years is 3km, which she did with Emily in our local fun run.
"Although I have run much less in the last couple of years, I have run one previous marathon in 2021.
“We will run/walk together as her parents, trying our best to turn our grief into something positive."
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"We will run with 'Emily's mum' and ' Emily's dad' on our tops and look forward to hearing her name shouted out along the streets of London. It will be really emotional but hoping that the encouragement will spur us on to the end.”
Training has had its ups and downs, but thoughts of Emily will keep them going on race day.
Sarah said: “We think about Emily all the time and she will be in our minds every step of the way. Our grief for Emily is as powerful as our love for her and we hope to channel this on race day to keep us going.
“We are very grateful to have family and friends coming down to support us and will also look out for the charity's support team along the way. No doubt it will be tough, physically and emotionally, but we will help each other and just keep putting one foot in front of the other for as long as we can.
“Some training has been curtailed by health issues which affects confidence, but we are very determined to get to that finish line and make Emily proud.”
Harry isn't old enough to enter the London Marathon yet, but he's come up with his own challenge.
He said: “I decided to swim a marathon this April, a mile a day. Emily and I loved swimming. We used to have swimming lessons together in half terms. We also loved bodyboarding in the sea on holidays, swimming at Center Parcs and we even swam in the Lake District with wetsuits!
“Sometimes I feel tired before I even go so that is difficult. I usually feel better once I start and always feel I'm making Emily proud when another mile is completed.”
Talking about why the charities they're supporting are crucial, Andy said: “Raising funds for research into paediatric brain tumours and raising awareness of the need for much more work to be done in this area is also really important.
"Only a very small percentage of the national spend on cancer research goes to brain tumours and this needs to change.
"Like too many others, Emily never stood a chance and that can't be right, not when so many advances have been made elsewhere in cancer treatment.
“It is important to us all to see the money making a real difference and we hope for some encouraging progress in the next few years.”
The London Marathon is taking place this Sunday, April 21.
You can support Sarah and Andy's London Marathon run here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/sarah-smith-1702802084656
Harry's challenge, meanwhile, can be supported here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/harry-smith-1669135220766
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