A London teacher who had heart surgery 10 weeks ago is to run the marathon on Sunday to honour her daughter, who died when she was two days old from a separate heart condition.<\/p>\n
She took on the challenge so she could teach her pupils that “strength and joy” can be found after grief, she said.<\/p>\n
Sophie Martin, the PE lead at St James’ RC Primary School in Twickenham was diagnosed with heart arrhythmia – an abnormal heartbeat – while she was in labour with baby Olive in 2024.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old said: “I’d just had my heart surgery… about two weeks later I found out that I’d got in (to the marathon) and I thought ‘I don’t know if I can even physically do this’.”<\/p>\n
At her 12-week pregnancy scan, Olive was found to have a hypoplastic left heart syndrome, meaning the left side of the organ was underdeveloped.<\/p>\n
Born in autumn 2024, she was “really strong”, Martin said, but suffered a cardiac arrest and died two days later.<\/p>\n
Olive’s death has left her, her husband and their now four-year-old son Arthur with “a lot of grief, sadness and shock”, she said.<\/p>\n
Having taken up running during the Covid pandemic, Martin said it had helped her process her grief over Olive’s death.<\/p>\n
“For me, this marathon is a new chapter,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Running with a newly healed heart is my way of honouring Olive and showing my students, and myself, that even after immense grief, you can find strength and joy.<\/p>\n
“It’s a reminder that life keeps going and I’m ready to see how much further I can go.”<\/p>\n
It has been a challenge, she says, and she hopes she has inspired her students and taught them that difficult tasks are not impossible.<\/p>\n
Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds<\/a> and follow BBC London on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n More on this story