A grandmother from the Isle of Wight will be taking on the London Marathon later this month in memory of her granddaughter who died just before birth.
Karen Tuckwell’s daughter Kerrie was pregnant with her third child back in 2013 when she had complications and lost the baby in her last few weeks. They named the baby – who also had Down’s syndrome – Harriet.
Speaking about the tragic turn of events, Karen has said:
“Losing my granddaughter was one of the hardest things to go through but to watch my daughter go through it was even harder. After some time, we decided we wanted to raise money for the Down’s Syndrome Association and do something to remember Harriet by. We booked our first race and have never looked back.
“I hope to do everyone proud and will be running with Harriet in my heart.”
The race in London on 28th April will be Karen’s second marathon, but the first one she’s done without her daughter by her side…
“I have always trained and raced with Kerrie so to be doing the London Marathon on my own is very nerve racking. I know Kerrie is very proud of me for running the marathon but also doing it for Harriet. She has been through so much, having to bring up her two young daughters whilst grieving for the loss of her baby. She is so very strong and I hope I do her proud.”
Kerrie, who works for a Special Education Needs (SEN) school on the Island, is equally proud of her mum:
“I can’t really describe how overwhelming proud I am of my mum.
“She finds training hard and has had a few injuries to deal with but she never gives up. I know she is very anxious about the big day as she has never entered a run without me. It’s usually something that we do together so this is a big thing.
“We started running when we lost Harriet and it was her way of getting me out of the house.”
Karen has already smashed her £500 fundraising target. Further sponsorship can be given at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/karentuckwell.
Good on you
Go for it Karen, you have Morrisons staff with you too. Xxx
Good luck Karen!!!!