London 2027 - my WHY?
In Early 2026, I was diagnosed with Unilateral Agenesis of the Pulmonary Artery (UAPA) - this is a rare congenital condition that affects approximately 1/200,000 people.
UAPA is when a Pulmonary Artery fails to develop, which in turn results in a lung with very limited blood supply. Due to the limited supply of blood, the affected lung is usually smaller and is not able to be used with little effectiveness.
When I got diagnosed, I felt I’d been living my life as a lie. I’d always considered myself a “sporty” person - I’d been dancing since the age of 3, I ran a half marathon last year and captained my university football team - infact I got called into hospital just as I was warming up to play a football game! (I made sure to play in the fixture before seeing the doctor..) I always used to tell my friends and family that I thought I had undiagnosed moderate asthma… Turns out it was something nobody expected!
One of the strangest things about UAPA is the lack of awareness around it - for a month after being diagnosed I spoke to dozens of doctors, all of whom didn’t know anything about the condition. I felt at times that I was being left in the dark. That’s when the lightbulb moment came. I always wanted to run the London Marathon, it has been a goal of mine, but post-diagnosis I felt even more motivated to run it - to challenge myself further than I ever have before.
I’m over the moon to be running the London Marathon 2027 for Asthma + Lung UK, to raise awareness for all the people out there with a lung condition that may feel limiting, or as if a label has been slapped on their back. I want to push the idea that even if something may be more difficult because of factors out of your control, anything is possible if you embrace the challenge.
