Marathon for Veterans

Dear All,

As you may be aware if you have talked to me at any point in the last few months I’m training for the Edinburgh Marathon in May. Clearly I have a physique which lends itself more to 26 course meals than to 26 mile runs so this leads me onto why I chose to do it.

My parents set up a charity in Dundee called the Dundee Therapy Garden. Whilst this sounds like something that involves meditation and yoga, it is designed to provide therapy to veterans with severe mental and physical health problems. It is a sad fact that many of the unsung heroes who work to keep us safe, experience horrific events that may not impact them for many years. Once they leave the military or emergency services and lose that support structure they can easily fall through the cracks in the system and become isolated.

To give you an idea, one of the veterans that the therapists have worked with was a new recruit in the army when he was tasked with assisting in the clean up after the Lockerbie air disaster. He was in the Army Medical service and after leaving became a paramedic. In this role he was one of the first responders to the Dunblane school shootings.

The therapists work to reconnect the veterans with the outside world and give them the confidence to face busy hospital waiting rooms so that they can receive treatment from the NHS. They have even gone to court to support a veteran when his family would not. If a veteran fails to come to the garden, the therapists make every effort to keep in touch. Whatever happens, veterans are always welcomed back.

I will be immensely grateful for any sponsorship that you feel able to pass my way to help the charity continue its work.