Josh Runs the BXL Marathon for Winston's Wish

Hello There!

For those who don't know me, my name is Josh, I'm 27, and I currently live and work in Brussels, Belgium. On October 2nd, I will be taking on the notorious Brussels Marathon with the goal of running it in under 3hrs 15mins. However, in taking on this challenge, I wanted to try and raise some money for a worthy cause that held some personal meaning to me.

When I was 11, my mother, Kate, suddenly passed away, turning my world upside down and leaving me needing a tremendous amount of support. I was incredibly lucky that I had an amazing network of friends and family who picked me up, supported me and helped me make sense of what was happening around me. It was only through having this amazing network that I was able to bounce back from what would have otherwise been a traumatising experience and even turn it into something that helped me look at life more positively.

However, I realise that not all children who go through such bereavement at an early age are as fortunate as I was to have such a broad and well-equipped network of people around them for support. That's where charities like Winston's Wish come in..

Winston's Wish is a childhood bereavement charity in the UK which offers a wide range of practical support and guidance to bereaved children, their families and professionals. The charity currently supports 40,000 bereaved children and young people annually through professional therapeutic help in individual, group and residential settings and via a national helpline, interactive website and publications. The charity is also the only specialist national provider of support for children bereaved through murder, manslaughter, suicide or military.

As such, I want to support their critical work by raising funds through sponsorship of my run in order to provide a small amount of extra resource to continue supporting the young people they work with. If you are able to make any small donation, I would be most grateful, and your money would go towards supporting a hugely worthy cause.

Thanks and maybe see you on the day in October,

Josh!