![\"Andy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_JS405477098.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAndy Harrowell hopes to raise funds and awareness as a tribute to the young mum and sporting star<\/p>\n
Andy Harrowell pictured with his sister Natalie Harrowell(Image: supplied image)<\/p>\n
The brother of a young Hull mum and inspirational women\u2019s rugby league<\/a> player, who tragically died in late 2019, is challenging himself to run his first half-marathon in her honour. Andy Harrowell is aiming to raise funds and awareness for a \u201clittle-known\u201d charity that supports research into the causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) – the condition that claimed the life of his sister, Natalie Harrowell<\/a>.<\/p>\n The mum of one daughter and stepmum of another was only 29 when she suddenly passed away, leaving family, friends and the rugby league community bereft<\/a>. Andy said it was later discovered that Natalie was suffering from sepsis-induced myocarditis.<\/p>\n He has entered the East Yorkshire Half-Marathon & 10K event, on June 21, against the backdrop of the stately Burton Constable Hall, which takes in the country lanes of West Newton and New Ellerby. Andy is running for Alexander Jansons Myocarditis UK and hopes to be wearing a running vest with the charity\u2019s branding, and his sister\u2019s face, emblazoned on it.<\/p>\n Andy said: \u201cShortly after my sister died – it was February 2020 – I started with chronic pains in my feet, where I couldn\u2019t get out of bed in the morning. It took about a year to be diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis [a long-term condition that causes joint pain, swelling and stiffness].<\/p>\n \u201cThe doctor asked if anything trauma-related had happened.\u201d Andy was told that in all likelihood, his body had gone into shock and it had reconfigured his system.<\/p>\n Natalie Harrowell was a talented rugby league player and an inspiration in the women’s game(Image: Mark Harrowell)<\/p>\n \u201cThe doctor said, \u2018other than treatments, there is nothing we can do\u2019. I am on medication for it now.<\/p>\n \u201cNot being able to run or anything, my weight ballooned. Now I\u2019ve managed to get to the point where I\u2019m comfortable and I\u2019ve lost the weight and I\u2019m in remission.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to be into sports but I hated running, I found it boring, but when I was diagnosed there was this thought that I might not be able to do that again. I don\u2019t really know why I took it up but I got slightly into it and worked up to a 15K.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019d done that, people said, \u2018why don\u2019t you enter a half-marathon?\u2019, and I thought signing up for the East Yorkshire Half was maybe an opportunity to raise a little bit of awareness for the charity. I\u2019ll see how my body holds out but it would be nice if I could go further and maybe a marathon.\u201d<\/p>\n Andy said: \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to the event, it will be a challenge. I think it will be a great atmosphere.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore Natalie died, we\u2019d never heard of myocarditis at all. It\u2019s such a tricky thing to treat; that\u2019s why it\u2019s so crucial to do the tests early.<\/p>\n \u201cAwareness around the condition is the main thing – it\u2019s vital to have that early diagnosis – and the fact that this can happen to anybody of any age. A lot of young people are affected by it.<\/p>\n \u201cSharing the story is important as any donations, though they are an absolute bonus,\u201d said Andy. \u201cBy starting out running to get healthy, I then started enjoying it.<\/p>\n \u201cDoing my first 15K and being encouraged by people to try a half-marathon, I find myself in a good place and in a position to try and do something positive to help.\u201d<\/p>\n Andy is fundraising via the GiveStar platform under the banner \u201cHeal the Heart\u201d<\/a>. His page says: \u201cNatalie Harrowell (1990\u20132019) was a prominent rugby league player for Featherstone Rovers women and the England national team.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was a key figure in the development of the women’s game, notably competing in the inaugural women\u2019s super league grand final in 2017. She earned three caps for England, debuting in 2016 where she scored a try in a 36-6 victory.<\/p>\n \u201cBut away from rugby, she was my little sister. In December 2019 she passed away from sepsis-induced myocarditis, a condition driven by a complex inflammatory response that triggers myocardial depression, and her heart couldn’t cope, and neither could her families – our hearts shattered into a thousand pieces.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease join us to Heal the Heart and raise awareness of this condition and the importance of taking all the necessary steps needed for early diagnosis. Any donation will be greatly appreciated, and your support and generosity will keep me going on my first half-marathon.\u201d<\/p>\n Did you know you can make Hull Live a preferred source of Hull news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? Here’s more information<\/a> about what this means and how to do it – you can also do it straight away by clicking here<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Harrowell hopes to raise funds and awareness as a tribute to the young mum and sporting star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[193,2207,5903,20370,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-575974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-charity","tag-people","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-league","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Natalie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_natalie-harrowell-england-try.jpg\")
<\/p>\n