Alex Crawford

Why I’m Running the 2027 London Marathon

I’m running the 2027 London Marathon for Jackson, my son, and for every child and family affected by asthma and serious lung disease.

In March 2024, when Jackson was just two years old, he developed what appeared to be a simple sore throat. It turned into a chest infection and soon after he was struggling to breathe. We took him to A&E, and at that stage was sent home with a throat spray. 

We returned to our GP, who immediately advised us to go back to A&E. An X-ray showed a considerable consolidation in his lungs meaning he now had pneumonia. His heart was working increasingly hard, his oxygen saturation levels were falling significantly, and within a very short time his lungs were deteriorating and he was going into respiratory failure.

The A&E team called the wonderful South Thames Retrieval Service, who urgently transported Jackson to King’s College Hospital PICU.

Jackson was intubated and placed on a ventilator for six days.

We genuinely thought we were going to lose our little boy. It was the worst week of my wife’s and my life. We watched our two-year-old son fight for his life, completely dependent on the incredible doctors, nurses and intensive care team around him.

They were absolutely wonderful. They saved him.

It was only later that we fully understood what had happened: Jackson had been experiencing a life-threatening asthma attack.

Thankfully, Jackson made a full recovery.

Today, he is doing well with his daily routine and, apart from a few further visits to A&E, he has managed to stay well. Seeing him happy, active and getting on with everyday life is something we never take for granted.

But the experience changed us forever.

As his dad, I will never forget the fear of standing beside his hospital bed wondering whether my little boy was going to come home.

That is why I’m running the 2027 London Marathon.

I want to help raise money for research into asthma and lung disease, so that we can understand these conditions better, improve treatment and give doctors and families the tools they need when a child’s breathing suddenly becomes a matter of life and death.

Most importantly, I want to help make sure that fewer parents ever have to experience what my wife and I went through.

I won’t be running those 26.2 miles just for Jackson, but for every child living with asthma.

And for every parent who has ever stood beside their child and been terrified that they might not make it through.

Please support me and help me turn one of the most frightening experiences of our lives into something positive. Every donation, however small, will help support vital research and better outcomes for people living with asthma and lung disease.

Thank you. ❤️

Alex