Leeds Marathon 2023 #RunForRob & Melrose to Headingley for Susie@50

In October 2015 my wife, Susie Hamlin, completed her first ever marathon. She was fit, healthy and incredibly happy, as you can see in the picture. She was a senior dietitian on the liver transplant unit at Leeds Teaching hospitals, a job she loved, and had just completed her MSc with distinction. Even more importantly to her she was a mum to two gorgeous kids, a wife, a sister and a friend to many.
Six months later Susie noticed that her speech was becoming slurred, the first signs for her of the onset of bulbar motor neurone disease (MND).
Susie died on the 3rd April 2018 at the age of 45, devastated at not being able to see her beautiful children Millie and Harry (then aged 13 and 8) grow up.
MND is a cruel and poorly understood condition, robbing people of their independence and ultimately their lives whilst impacting families and friends hugely.
Doddie Weir and Rob Burrow are both legends of rugby who have been diagnosed with MND and, tragically, Doddie died very recently . The My Name’5 Doddie Foundation (myname5doddie.co.uk) was established to research the causes and potential treatments for MND, to raise awareness of the condition and to support sufferers and their families. Susie was a proud Scot and keen to support Doddie’s foundation and its crucial work.
The Rob Burrow Centre for MND Appeal (leedshospitalscharity.org.uk) was launched to raise funds to build a state of the art care centre for patients and their families in Leeds, something that is greatly needed.
Inspired by these two amazing individuals I want to contribute to their fundraising attempts whilst, at the same time, marking what would have been Susie’s 50th birthday and our 20th Wedding anniversary in September 2022.
As a result I ran from Melrose rugby club in Scotland, where Doddie started his career, to Headingley rugby ground in Leeds, home of Rob’s club, the Leeds Rhinos.
It was Kevin Sinfield’s Extra Mile Challenge of running 101 miles in 24hours that gave me this idea and I ran the 165 miles over 7 1/2 day, arriving at Headingley Stadium on Saturday 17th September, the eve of Susie’s 50th birthday.
It was a tough challenge but it was nothing compared with the daily struggle patients with MND face. Kevin Sinfield’s #ultra7in7 showed me what true endurance running was about and this followed by Rob’s #SPOTY win with his irrepressible wife Lindsey by his side and also the beautiful words spoken by Doddie’s boys at his memorial service has inspired me to do more. I am being joined by my friends Danny Henry, Adam Smith, Alex Ford, Jeremy Clutton and Jez Robson to run the #RunForRob, the first Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon, on the 14th May 2023. We would be honoured if you felt able to sponsor us and any donations will be split 50/50 between the two charities.
You can follow my preparations on Twitter @diaryofwimpydad or Strava.
Thank you
Susie’s family and friends xx