Chester Half Marathon for The Gift of Life Fund

Me and my sister are not runners at all however… we have decided to set ourselves a challenge (very spontaneously) we will be running the Essar Chester half marathon on May 18th. The Essar Chester Half Marathon is one of the UK’s longest established and most highly regarded half marathons, which is 22kilometers long. It will be a massive challenge as we have no running experience haha!

We will be doing this in memory of our amazing mum who most know we sadly lost to sepsis a few years back.

Although we as a family will never stop hurting from the loss of mum but we do get some comfort in knowing she has allowed love to live on in the lives of people she helped through tissue & organ donation.

Due to this, we have become very invested in helping and supporting local charities and NHS events to promote the awareness and the importance of sharing organ donation decisions and how they can potentially help give the gift of life. I do this alongside an amazing team of specialist organ donation nurses, one being my amazing auntie Abi, who are amazing at what they do.

I have recently become part of a committee called ‘ The Gift of Life - Rhodd o Fywyd’ formerly known as ‘ Cronfa Elens’s Fund’ which is an NHS charity which promotes the discussion around organ donation and also supports bereaved families of organ donors. The aim of the charity is to provide this support in many ways such as medical equipment for intensive care departments, facilities such as helping make ITU family rooms more comfortable, education and training for nurses and doctors in how to approach and care for donors and their families, special projects and promotion for organ donation and so much more. I am honoured to have been asked to be a part of this and this is why we have chosen to raise funds for this charity… so we can help fund something so very close to us and ensure it helps other families also.

We believe it is so very important that we encourage everyone to talk about organ donation and we share our wishes with our loved ones so that lives can be saved.

I personally think that organ donation is the greatest gift of all. None of us will live forever, but maybe we will get the chance to help another live a little longer.

If you haven’t added your name and decision to the NHS Organ Donor Register, take a couple of minutes to do it today ➡️ https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register-your-decision/donate/?

Lastly, thank you so much for clicking on the page and reading the story. We do hope we can raise some funds for this very special charity and help promote the importance of organ donation and how people could, like my mum allow love and life to live on through donation and help all families through this.

The Gift of Life

Best get running!!

Thank you,

Ella & Llinos x