Brant Broughton runners to take on Lisbon Marathon in aid of Leukaemia UK, inspired by bravery of Bodhi Peckham

Two friends-turned-running buddies are to take on a marathon in aid of Leukaemia UK — inspired by a brave five-year-old fighting the disease.

Anna Wilkinson and Paula Dowling, of Brant Broughton, are set to run the Lisbon Marathon on October 6, aiming to raise £5,000 for the charity to help improve Leukaemia treatments.

Anna, who works for a childrens’ publisher, was working with children's author Hannah Peckham when her son Bodhi Peckham, then three, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic Leukaemia in November 2022.

Now nearly two years into his fight against cancer, Bodhi has undergone numerous treatments, and spent many weeks in hospital, but his treatment is expected to continue until he is seven.

Anna said: “Every time he had these procedures he got a little bead — so every lumbar puncture, every general anaesthetic, every steroid injection, chemotherapy — and these beads were only five millimetres across and they put them on a string to show the journey the child has been on.

“This string was three, four metres long, of all these tiny little beads of things he’s endured. His mum had already started campaigning for a kinder way treating this disease, which is what Leukaemia UK are researching.

“In order to boost what Hannah had already been doing, I thought well if he can go through all this, I can go through doing a marathon — which given that I hadn’t even started running at 50 was probably a bit daft but here we are.”

Friend and running buddy Paula decided to join Anna on the journey, and the pair have spent the summer months training for their marathon effort around their work commitments.

“I’m eternally grateful for Paula doing it with me and for keeping me on track, because she’s very much the stronger of the two of us,” Anna added.

“Her support has meant everything to me.”

The pair began running together after bumping into each other while out dog walking some years ago, forming a firm friendship which has also seen them run two half marathons together over the years — in Windsor and Worksop.

Paula said: “Anna introduced me to her running club, and running friends, so we started to go out of an evening and do a few kilometres — not that we ever anticipated launching into a 26.2 mile run.

“I mean I’ve just run three half-marathons in the last eight days, which is just crazy to even think about.

“It’s been hard, as the runs have got longer the blisters have started appearing, the toenails started to suffer, it’s just a painful experience — it has been tough, it’s a lot of miles, its a lot of commitment.

“We’ve now both bough hydration packs to run with, eating carb gels — all these things I never though I’d hear myself say.”

Anna added: “Its very much a love-hate relationship, its been a revelation to me. Its very much as mental as it is physical.

“When I went out and I had to do 12 miles, my first over ten as a training run, I just wanted to cry, I just though I cannot do this — but Paula said just keep going, one foot in front of the other and I managed it.

“Then the other weekend I ran 15 miles around London after work.”

The pair have set a £5,000 fundraising goal, as they want to raise an amount which could “really make a difference” as part of the #PantsToLeukaemia campaign launched by Hannah after Bodhi put his pants on his head after being admitted to hospital aged four.

Their pot currently stands at £1,968, and donations can be made via their JustGiving page: justgiving.com/team/pants.

Anna said: “We welcome anyone and everybody’s support — all that we’ve had so far means so much.”

Paula added: “They all add up, and every time we see a donation come in we think its another bit forward, its another bit forward, and it just feels like it makes it more worthwhile if we can really just get a decent amoutn for such a fantatic cause.”

Anna also thanked Notfast Running Club, especially Ernie Clarke and the Joggers and Plodders program, without who the marathon effort wouldn’t have been possible, as well as an unknown woman who they met in January at Lincoln park run, who overheard the pair’s deliberation over the marathon and encouraged them to go for it.