My Hero

So I wanted to tell you a bit more about why I'm running the London Marathon, and what (or rather who) I'm running it for. He's a man named Eric Rivers, one of the bravest men I've ever known, who died just over three years ago of the crippling, cruel condition Motor Neurone Disease - a man I'm proud and privileged to have called a friend.

Eric was one of those people who made everyone around him smile and feel better about themselves. A keen and excellent cricketer, he loved nothing more than sport, his friends and - above all - his wife and daughters whom he adored. He was a man who loved life. And then MND came along and took away all of that.
Some of you may remember Eric - he became well-known nationally when he and his family were featured on Nick Knowles' DIY SOS programme. The episode in which Knowles' team rebuilt the Rivers' Enfield home is emotionally wrought even by DIY SOS's standards. But what really came across in the broadcast was Eric's shining intelligence, his quiet courage in the face of adversity, his devotion to his family and above all, his utter humanity. If you can find it on iPlayer, I'd urge you to watch it.
Eric took the fight to the disease which was destroying his body, delaying its progress far longer than the doctors had predicted was possible. By the end, MND had taken everything it could - his mobility, his speech, even his ability to breathe properly. But it could never take his mind or his spirit - he was able to keep communicating via eye movements and a special computer, and even managed to maintain an active social media presence! The wisdom and courage of his writing in his last months will always stay with me.
Eric, and fighting MND, is pretty much the reason I started running in charity events. When I did my first half-marathon for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, Eric and his family were in the crowd, part of the charity's "cheer squad" spurring on their runners at the Royal Parks course. Sometimes when I'm training, and I feel like I'm at my last gasp and I can't go on, I think of Eric and how he'd have coped. And then the rest is easy. Well, easier anyway.
So if you can, please do help me fight back against MND on Eric's behalf. I'll be running the marathon for the MNDA - a fine organisation that finances medical research to combat this incurable monster of a disease, and supports the people and families torn apart by it.  
You can donate via Justgiving by clicking on this link . I'd really like to raise at least £1000 in Eric's memory - that's enough to fund a specialist communication app for eight MND sufferers for a whole year, or pay for a month's worth of laboratory equipment for research into a cure. That's real differences being made to people's lives.
Thanks for reading this far, and putting up me with getting all serious on you. Next time - more mildly amusing stories about the calamities of marathon training. I promise 

PS. You can find out more about MND and the MNDA here mndassociation.org