29th March 2008 - Hospital treatment fails to deter marathon runner
Thornbury
keep fit enthusiast Caroline Lansdown has signed up to run in this
month's London Marathon - and she's not about to let a little problem
like congenital disease stop her.
Only 18 months after major hospital treatment to deal with an aneurism,
the 42-year-old mum of two will be pounding round the capital proving
that, with the right approach, anything is possible. "I've been
running for a long time now and it was quite a blow when I had to
give up in summer 2006 because of the aneurism," said Caroline,
who was unaware that she had been born with heart disease until the
condition was diagnosed at the age of 18.
"Fortunately, the treatment at the Bristol Royal Infirmary was
so successful that I was back in running shoes the following January
and I haven't look back since. I'm doing the London Marathon with
the blessing of my cardiologist and thanks to fantastic support from
my family and from Thornbury Running Club. I should be okay as long
as I'm sensible. I did a 20 mile race in Gloucester recently and handled
that okay so I'm pretty confident of finishing the course."
In the capital to cheer her over the finishing line on April 13 will
be husband John, and their two sons, George, 14, and William, 15.
Caroline's older brother, Stephen is also running in the marathon.
No one will be surprised to hear that Caroline is raising funds for
the BRI's Congenital Heart Unit whose care she is under and also for
the Grown Up Congenital Heart Patients Association and Cardiac Athletes.
Thornbury Running Club is well represented in this year's London Marathon.
In addition to Caroline, six other club members will also be taking
part in the slog around the metropolis, including five who are raising
cash for the Bristol Urological Institute.
The five are father and son John and Mark Grimsey (John has run many
marathons but Mark only recently started running and challenging his
dad); club vice-president Arthur Renshaw (running his tenth London
Marathon); Hillary Collins on her first attempt and Karen Carr, celebrating
her 50th birthday.
Karen said: "We have all been training hard with long runs on
Sunday mornings through wind and rain and then more rain. We're all
relieved to be reaching our tapering period in the lead up to the
event. Club member Val James is running to raise cash for the Thornbury
Hospital League of Friends.