London Marathon 2026
I am very excited to announce that I will be running the London Marathon 2026 for the Brain Charity. As part of my fundraising, I will be donating 2% of all my sales to The Brain Charity until 26th April 2026.
Wondering why I am doing the marathon and why I am doing it for The Brain Charity? Keep reading to hear my story.
On March 21st 2025 my Grandpa passed away after a 18 year battle with Parkinson’s disease. It was heartbreaking to watch his life change so drastically as his condition worsened. Going from a healthy, sporty and strong man to someone who could no longer speak, drink or eat.
He was an incredibly determined person who did everything he could to improve his life and his symptoms. It was incredibly inspiring to watch his determination, but also devastating to know that there is no cure for Parkinsons Disease, and that 166,000 people in the UK suffer from this awful disease.
In addition to my Grandpa’s suffering, my best friend’s Mum, who has always been like a second Mum to me, has also suffered with extreme neurological conditions after having two brain tumours, meningitis and multiple mini strokes.
In 1999, at the age of 33, Denise was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She underwent an 8-hour operation where they removed 95% of the tumour, which was the size of an orange. Unfortunately, the other 5% was attached to the brain, so they were unable to remove it completely without causing serious brain damage. Although the surgery was successful, Denise, developed an infection around the area that was operated on, which meant she had to have further surgery to remove the bone flap which protects the brain. She spent a further 3 weeks in hospital, recovering from the infection, and then 6 months later she had to have a 7-week course of intense radiotherapy. About 2 and a half years later, Denise had to go back into hospital to have a titanium plate fitted to protect the brain. Growing up, I never noticed anything different about Denise, she was always active, laughing, and never turned down doing anything. Our families are incredibly close, and we made unforgettable childhood memories going on caravan holidays, to Disney World, to concerts and musicals with her daughter, Becca and my Mum, going egg rolling and spending Christmas Eve together. I later learnt that she would get tired more quickly than others and due to the radiotherapy killing some of the brain cells, this would cause her left leg to drag.
In September 2012, she was rushed into hospital as she felt like there was water leaking from her head. She was transferred to The National Hospital in London, where they found out that she had meningitis and the infection had started eating away at her scar tissues. Denise underwent surgery to have a drain fitted to get rid of all the infected liquid and was then in hospital for a further 3 months. She had to have surgery to remove the titanium plate, and in addition, because of the severity of her meningitis, Denise experienced a very long and intense seizure, which left her temporarily paralysed down her left side. In November 2012, she was transferred to Amersham Hospital, where she underwent intense physiotherapy to help her gain her strength in her left side again. Finally arriving home, in December 2012, just in time for Christmas.
As if Denise hadn’t experienced enough, in 2016, she returned to hospital for an MRI scan and they discovered another brain tumour on the right side of her brain, this was removed at the end of the year by a gamma knife surgery. Unfortunately, the neurological damage has affected Denise’s balance, causing awful falls, some of which have hospitalised her, and has drastically impacted her confidence, mental health and quality of life. Since the gamma knife treatment, her deterioration has been severe. She has had multiple mini strokes, seizures, the falls have got worse and her mobility has declined hugely. Today, at the age of 60, Denise is completely dependent on her walker, wheel chair and mobility scooter. It is heartbreaking to watch her deteriorate this drastically and not have the quality of life that she deserves. Going from someone who looked after us, picked us up from school, and was there to witness every step of our childhood, to someone who needs looking after and is unable to help care for a beautiful Grandchild.
On one of my Grandpa's final few days before he died, I told him that I would run the Marathon to raise money for Parkinsons. When I started researching charities that I could run for that support people with Parkinsons, I found The Brain Charity, and immediately knew it was who I wanted to run for.
A neurological condition is any condition that affects the brain, spinal cord or nervous system - and there are over 600 different conditions.
Many are well-known, such as Stroke, Dementia, Parkinsons, Epiliepsy and ADHD, and there are also hundreds of conditions that only affect an unlucky few, such as Huntington's Disease, Trigeminal Neuralgia and Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.
Some neurological conditions can begin suddenly, some you are born with, and some can develop over time - The Brain Charity is the only charity in the UK to be here for every single one of them.
They provide practical help, emotional support and social activities to thousands of people from all over the UK. They support anyone based in the UK who has a neurological condition, and their friends, family and carers too.
Running the London Marathon won’t be an easy feat for me, the furthest I have run to date is 10km, but every step of the way, both in my training and during the event, I will have my Grandpa and Denise in my mind, and I know that they will be cheering me on, every step of the way.
Want to donate to this incredible cause? Go to https://2026tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/jodie-burridge
Want to find out more about what the Brain Charity does? Go to https://www.thebraincharity.org.uk/
