Keeping Maddy’s memory
alive
The London Marathon might have been postponed, but PHA UK supporter Sophie Morris is determined to keep on running for childhood friend Maddy Hardman. Here, she explains how their friendship group is keeping her memory alive by spreading awareness of pulmonary hypertension and raising money to support others.
I
met Maddy at secondary school, and as part of a group of girls who used to get the school bus in together each morning, we quickly became friends. She had the most mesmerising long, flowing waist-length blonde hair, an incredibly angelic singing voice and a quirky fascination with skulls which always used to make me laugh. Maddy was one of those effortlessly funny people and we spent many bus journeys travelling into school and back home again in fits of laughter which left our stomachs hurting. But as we all moved away to various universities and colleges across the UK, Maddy got sick. In December 2014 she was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. I'd never heard of PH but was told it affected the heart and lungs.
SUMMER 2020 emphasis 42
Maddy was due to have intravenous treatment in January 2016 followed by a lung transplant later on in life, but tragically lost her battle unexpectedly and passed away on 29 December 2015. She was just 20 years old, two months away from her 21st birthday. Her death was a complete shock to all of us. I knew Maddy was sick but hadn't comprehended the concept of losing her. Maddy's passing immediately made all of us realise how important it is to not take life for granted and to always challenge yourself and try new things while you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do so. With this firmly in our minds, we set a goal to raise as much money for the PHA UK as possible in memory of our friend and to help others like her. I imagined writing this having
completed the London Marathon which I've been training for over the last eight months, but sadly, due to coronavirus, that has been postponed. I'd decided to challenge myself to run a marathon as when we were at school, the most exercise Maddy and I ever did was run from the sports hall to the school bus - via the canteen to buy a chocolate brownie! We were not the most athletic group of girls, and many of us were made to go to fitness club at school after failing to run the cross-country route in a speedy enough time. Maddy of course, although she did not know it at the time, was impacted by her health condition. The rest of us were just lazy! Starting from scratch following a leg injury, I almost completed the full marathon training plan and have so far raised over ÂŁ1,000 for the PHA UK. My wonderful Grandad made it his mission to collect donations from market stall traders, members of his community groups and even the local vicar. And with another few months to go until the marathon at least, I'm hoping to raise even more. The training so far has been tough, particularly competing with Storm Dennis and Storm Ciara, but at the end of February I somehow battled the elements to make it around 18 miles. I work as a political journalist, so fitting in running between key Brexit votes, a December general election and the initial outbreak of coronavirus has also been quite a challenge! As upsetting as it was to hear the London Marathon would not be going
