A mum from Hampton Hill ran the London Marathon last month to raise money for a Kingston-based children's charity.

Mum of two, Catherine, ran the marathon with her friend Whitney for Momentum Children's Charity, which has supported her family since her son Charlie, aged one, was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 1.

Speaking about Charlie's diagnosis, Catherine told Nub News: "Charlie was born and presented like a typical baby and then over the weeks that followed, we noticed that he was losing strength and motor skills and also his breathing had become quite laboured.

"He lost his head control, and didn't really do anything in normal time. His legs stopped kicking, and he kind of lost some of those reflexes. So, we took him to Kingston Hospital when we noticed the laboured breathing and then they pointed out that it could be SMA Type 1.

"The NHS now has treatment options to stop the progression of the disease, and he was treated with a gene therapy that helped kind of stop the progression of the muscle wasting and then preserved and helped him to regain some strength over time.

"But it is a progressive disease and this is also why newborn screening is so important and something that we still don't have in the UK."

While Charlie is now living at home, he is on overnight ventilation.

Catherine said: "He can't really move himself overnight, so he requires repositioning. So the hardest part of training for the marathon was just getting through the nights of broken sleep and then having to get up and do a long run.

"But what really gets me through is that those long runs are also like alone time for me and just a good way to relieve stress or shake off everything that we have going on with him. So, while the training was definitely time consuming, I looked at it as time for myself, which was really nice."

She added that because the family has had Charlie's overnight ventilation set up at home, " he's doing really well and he's really thriving".

She said: "He does great in his ongoing therapy appointments and he's just been going from strength to strength."

Speaking about why she chose to raise money for Momentum, Catherine said: "So Charlie was diagnosed with SMA, Type 1 inOctober 2024. And after he was diagnosed with SMA, while we were in Kingston Hospital with him, Momentum got in touch about supporting our family as they support families with a cancer diagnosis or life challenging condition diagnosis.

"So, they got in touch and provided us with a family support worker, and just basically helped with that transition post-diagnosis and supporting our whole family. They really were a part of our journey from the beginning."

Catherine says that Momentum helped her family sponsor play therapy for Charlie's older sister.

She said: "Obviously being in hospital and dealing with Charlie's diagnosis affected my daughter as well. So, Momentum arranged for a play therapist to come and help her with what she was feeling and with processing everything, and that had lasting impacts for her.

"They also have supported us with respite breaks. So we've gone on a boat trip on their boat out of Sunbury. And that was a really nice opportunity to just kind of do something fun as a family that wasn't just medical appointments.

"And this weekend, we're actually going to one of their family cabins for a bit of a break. So that'll be nice as a post-marathon treat and to go down south for a couple of days as a family and just get a change of scenery for a bit."

Catherine says that the family support worker Momentum provided is "constantly in touch, seeing what I need, seeing how she could support, and offering things like coffee dates with other parents".

She added: "She's just been so involved and helpful and checks in at least every other week to just see what I need. So that's been invaluable."

Speaking about why she thinks it is important to raise money for Momentum, Catherine said: "With it being a local charity, obviously they rely on those ongoing donations, and just knowing that not only just my own family, but other families we know who are sponsored by Momentum, really benefit from the support that momentum provides, highlights the need to raise funds for them.

"And I think it's really important to raise awareness of the charity and all the great work that they do in the local area. For example, if you go to Kingston Hospital, the Momentum branding and friendly faces are all over the wards.

"So, I think it's really important to give back, and knowing the amount of families they support, whether they're currently going through a diagnosis or even the bereaved families that they continue to support, suggests to me that it is really important to make sure we're raising awareness and funds so they can keep doing their work."

Catherine says that she has "always been into running" and that, having already ran two full marathons before, running the London Marathon has been a dream of hers.

She added: "I definitely like to use running as a way to help give back to charities who support our family in some way or have a close personal connection, and it had always been a dream of mine to run the London marathon.

"So, I applied to run for the Momentum team nearly a year ago because I wanted to run for a charity that has given our family so much and really give back and to thank them for all of that support."

Catherine continued: "This was my third full marathon and I really wanted to run the London Marathon as it is especially meaningful for me as we were inpatients at the Evelina for two months, which is part of the marathon route."

The mum says that while Charlie was at Evelina, she would go on runs to clear her head after being in the hospital all day.

She says that she would run past famous London attractions like Westminister, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace.

Catherine added: "So I knew it would be really special to run the London Marathon for a charity close to my heart, and to run a route that I used during the most challenging season of our lives really felt like a victory lap of like, 'wow, look how far we've come since those days in hospital'.

"So, I was really excited when Momentum offered me a place on the team as well as one of my friends, so we could team up together and support all the amazing work that they do."



Catherine says that she initially went into marathon day with a time goal, but realised early on that due to the hot weather on the day that she would not make that time.

She said: It was really warm on the day and I realised I didn't want to waste the day feeling upset about following my pace or not enjoying it.

"So I had an early wobble at around 5 miles in, and was like, 'ooh, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, I'm already feeling overheated'."

Thus, Catherine says, she had a pep talk with herself reminding herself that the marathon was supposed to be fun and that she had "worked really hard" and that "fundraising had gone amazingly".

So, despite her early wobble, Catherine powered through the marathon and saw her family, including Charlie, in the accessible viewing area in Canary Wharf at mile 18.

She also saw volunteers from Momentum at mile 25, which she says "really carried [her] through right to the end".

She said I could have kept going forever. I just loved it so much.

"I'm so appreciative and so thankful for everyone's support and donations and I hope that the support for Momentum continues long after the marathon as well."

Catherine has surpassed her target of £6,000 by raising £6,846, but you can still donate to her cause here.

Momentum Children's Charity supports families across London, Surrey and Sussex whose children are facing cancer or a life-challenging condition.

The charity partners with local hospitals to offer personally tailored support to the entire family through its family support workers, both in hospital and at home.

You can find out more about the work of Momentum Children's Charity's social work service here.