The motivation for my training for the last two months now has been for one little girl… Niamh (pronounced Neeve) Curry. I decided I would brand up with her charity, Niamh’s Next Step, instead of finding a sponsor for the London Marathon, and to race for something that REALLY matters. This little girl’s life.

Wednesday I heard she has been under the weather, back in the hospital and wouldnt be making it to the London Marathon with her family. I was heartbroken for the poor little thing.. a blood infection of some sort it sounds like.. We were supposed to meet for the first time Saturday, and I had arranged for her and her family to be at the finish of the Marathon. It has been my motivation to finish the London Marathon first, branded with Niamh’s Next Step charity fund, to get her as much publicity as possible.. any opportunity to scoop her up and tell the world that this little girl needs our help.

Speaking with Niamh's mom, Sam, while delightful little Hannah plays in the background

My family likes to think a miracle saved me. I believe there are such things as miracles.. but there is also such thing as science. Niamh CAN get better if we all chip in and get her the funds to go to the US for the $450,000 treatment in Philadelphia.. which she is no longer offered in the UK.

After hearing that she wasn’t going to make it to the Marathon, I went straight from training Friday with my promoter David Burdus to Oxford to see her in hospital. When we arrived she had just gotten out of a minor surgery, and wasn’t her usual self. The poor little thing was sleeping most of the time, on antibiotics, and feeling pretty crummy.

Her parents, Chris and Sam, are wonderful and amazing, as is her big sister, Hannah, who is an absolute delight! Chris and Sam filled me in on the whole situation with Niamh- how sick she has been, but what a little positive fighter Niamh is.  I told her parents how she will be fine, and how this will make her a stronger person, as she is learning how to overcome obstacles in the earliest stages of her life. She will be able to get through anything after  this, and at 5 years old I can tell she is already going to be an amazing person.

I could tell immediately from the first pictures I ever saw of her, the beautiful little old soul in there. A beautiful little cheerful angel. This little girl needs to live. And will. And we are going to get her what she needs so she can get better as soon as possible.

Please text CURE50 ?5 ?10 or?15 to 70070, or go to www.niamhsnextstep.com or follow @NiamhsNextStep via twitter to see how you can help!

Share this:

Related Posts:

• MY favourite memory of the 2012 Olympic Games
• 4th Tunnel Victory
• Boston 2013 - de-throned fair and square