I am currently living and working in Auckland, New Zealand and last October, whilst here, I was told that my brother, James had kidney failure. Since this time he has been under the care of MRI and started dialysis in January. It was hard being so far away and knowing that there was nothing I could do to help apart from give support over the phone and email.
My family have been very happy with the care that James has received so when I found out I could raise money for Kidneys for Life I decided to enter the Auckland Half Marathon to thank them for the work they have done to support my brother and other patients with kidney failure. This made me feel like I was helping out even though I am thousands of miles away.
Though I go to the gym, I have never run any long distances before so I spent several months training before the event. I had to be up at 4am on the day of the race ready to catch the 5am ferry to the starting line. There were about 16,500 runners overall so the atmosphere was great. I hadn’t anticipated how hilly the course was – it was hard work! The course takes you over the Auckland Harbour Bridge and the views from here were awesome!
I completed the race in 1 hour 52 minutes which I was very happy about. My friends who were watching and the support I had from people back home helped me over the finishing line. Overall I raised an incredible £800.00. I would like to say a big thank you to all my family and friends who encouraged me and donated to this great cause, so close to my heart.
Ellie Wharfe