"The most amazing thing I have ever done"

Before signing up for the London Marathon, Becky never saw herself as a runner and the furthest she’d ever run was three miles.

But, when her younger brother Richard was diagnosed with macular disease last year, at the age of 22, she wanted to do something that would make a difference.

“As soon as he got diagnosed, I just thought, right, what can I do?” She said.

The diagnosis of Best disease, a rare inherited form of macular disease, had a huge impact on the family and came after Richard was dealing with hearing loss.

“It knocked him for six,” she said. “It was a bit of a double hit, really. But the eyesight got to him more. He found it very difficult to talk about within the first kind of six months, I'd say. He didn’t really want to come to terms with it and was quite upset. But he’s seen the brighter side of things now there are people out there that can help him.”

The marathon 

Becky put her mind to doing something to support him and decided to enter the ballot for the London Marathon.

“It was probably the most amazing thing I've ever done,” she said, reflecting on the race. “The support, from everyone, made it - especially the Londoners on the streets.”

Becky’s brother, her close friends and her family also turned out to support her on the day.  

“It was an emotional day, especially mile 23, when my brother gave me a bit of a pep talk and that put me in tears,” she said. “He just put his arms out and said, ‘Come here,’ and gave me a hug… then said, ‘You can do it. You’ve got this.’ That just threw me into tears. Emotions were running high anyway.”

Becky, who is a keen golfer, is used to walking around the golf course, but had never run more than three miles before. Last year, she initially signed up for a half marathon, but after Richard’s diagnosis, she committed to the full London Marathon and entered the ballot. “I didn’t think I’d get in,” she said. “But if I did I knew it would be hard, but the pain that he's going to have to go through with the injections in his eyes and everything, it's the least I could do’.”

A transformational journey 

“This journey has quite literally changed my life and taught me so much about myself.

“I never used to run more than three miles. To me, that was a long way.”

“I’ve always followed the motto of ‘if you can dream it, you can do it’ and that’s exactly what I did. The London Marathon was the biggest challenge of my life but also the most amazing and rewarding day with memories I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.”

Team effort 

Becky was one of 14 runners who took on the challenge to raise awareness and funds to beat macular disease.

Kate, 41 was also running for her family as her dad and his sisters have age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

She said: “I’ve seen how losing his sight has affected him over the years and whilst he’s still quite independent, he has had to adapt. Now he can’t drive, and that’s been a big thing. It really shows how losing your sight, more than any other sense, has a really big impact. So, I wanted to do the marathon with them in mind, and everyone else who is living through this.”

She added: “The big thing was how amazing the crowd are for the London Marathon and absolutely they were amazing on the day. It was such an incredible experience, hot, and the water stations were very enjoyable, but it meant a lot really to run it for the Macular Society.”

Running for Sorsby  

Jennifer, 34, daughter of former Macular Society trustee Sally Hawkes, also ran the race for her mum and aunts who have Sorsby Fundus Dystrophy.

She said:  “I underestimated quite how overwhelming it was going to be, it was really an amazing experience. It was hard though, not helped by the heat which I wasn’t expecting.”

Sorsby is another rare, inherited form of macular disease. The cause was even closer to Jennifer’s heart as she was told last year that she has the same gene.

“It was a quite a difficult moment to be told,” she said. “I had actually already applied to run the marathon but I didn’t get into the ballot. I thought ‘gosh, if I don’t try and do this now I might not be able to in the future because you just don’t know with this gene.’ My mum started to lose her sight in her mid-to-late 30s so it could happen any time to me, and so I was grateful to be able to run for the Macular Society this year." 

Beating Macular Disease 

The funds raised from the marathon will go towards research into treatments and cures for macular disease, as well as support services for those living with sight loss.