London Marathon 2025

After reading about the London Marathon 2025, I was down the pub and secretly applied on the off chance I might actually get a place. Somehow, I received the confirmation email I was in, and immediately knew I wanted to complete the Marathon in remembrance of my incredible friend James Neal and raise money for Anthony Nolan, a charity dedicated to helping those affected and diagnosed from blood cancer.

James was diagnosed with Leukaemia in 2009, yet despite this news, he always put others before himself and always tried to uplift and support those around him. James underwent successful chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant in May 2009. In March 2010, James was told the cancer was back and passed away in May 2010 at the age of 14 following his battle with Leukaemia.

For myself and my brother, James was not only a fantastic friend who we couldn't wait to see when travelling up to Scunthorpe, but also someone we looked up to who always knew how to have fun and laugh. Whether that was Scunthorpe FC/Liverpool V Manchester United in the garden and him taking the blame for tearing up the newly laid lawn into a tough mudder course, introducing us to Family Guy while our parents were asleep or shining a laser into the neighbour's house and watching them go mad while we ducked and hid, James always kept a smile on his face, even when he let those two annoying boys from Kettering beat him on FIFA, which shows the special kind of person he was.

Anthony Nolan makes connections between people in desperate need of stem cell transplants and incredible strangers who are ready to donate theirs. These matches they make can literally save someone’s life. They also provide funding for research towards the enhancement of treatment, increasing the survival outcome of those who have blood cancer and provide help and support to them and their families.

I will be running the London Marathon on Sunday 27th April 2025.

Thank you so much for reading and I would be incredibly grateful if you were able to donate whatever you can to support the Anthony Nolan charity in remembrance of James.

Josef