A brother and sister from Alderminster have completed their first half marathon and raised much needed funds for Children’s Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF). Susie Barnes, 23 and her 21 year old brother Freddie are both students at Bath University and decided that doing the Bath Half Marathon would be a great way of raising funds for a charity which is very important to them.
“As a baby of three weeks old, I was diagnosed with the rare liver disease, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and was very poorly,” explains Susie. “My mum tells me that the staff at both the Liver Unit at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital and CLDF were really helpful and supportive. She always says the combination saved my life! My parents and their friends have raised money for CLDF in the past, and my brother and I used to donate money from selling lemonade in our village when we were little, but now we are older we thought we should do something to raise more than just pennies!
“As we are both studying at the University of Bath and this is the only semester that we overlap, the Bath Half Marathon seemed the perfect opportunity to do some more fundraising together. We knew that simply making it to the finishing line would be a challenge as neither of us had done this before. Freddie certainly had an advantage as he is sporty and plays football and rugby regularly. I am definitely not sporty nor a regular runner!”
The pair rose to the challenge however and not only completed the marathon (on March 17) but raised £760 for CLDF.
“It was definitely one of the hardest but most amazing experiences,” says Susie. “I would go so far to say that I was enjoying it until mile 10 when it suddenly got very hard. I was thrilled to actually make it over the finish line! Fred and I are excited to be able to give back to a charity that has done so much for our family and others.”
Alison Taylor, Chief Executive of Children’s Liver Disease Foundation commented: “CLDF is the only UK charity dedicated to fighting all childhood liver diseases, by providing information and emotional support, funds for research and a voice for all those affected. In order to do this, however, we rely almost entirely on voluntary donations, so we are delighted that Susie and Freddie decided to do their first half marathon for us. The funds raised will enable us to continue to support young people with liver disease throughout the UK.”
You can still donate to Susie and Freddie’s Bath Half Marathon challenge by clicking HERE
For more information on CLDF visit childliverdisease.org.
