Toni Hopkins is hitting the ground running as she prepares to tackle the Virgin Money London Marathon in memory of her grandmother to raise vital funds for our hospice.

Toni’s Grandmother Jean Colley, was cared for at our hospice site in Telford in the final years of her life and became very close with our staff.

Toni was born in Telford and lived locally for the first few years of her life, sometimes with her grandmother Jean, and has many fond memories of her childhood home. The family moved out of the area when Toni was still a child.

We called Toni in January to ask whether she’d still like to take on the marathon challenge as a place had become available. With less than 100 days to train and fundraise before the big day, Toni accepted.

She will not be tackling the challenge alone, however, as Toni’s cousins Natalie James and Stephanie Wigglesworth have also taken on running challenges of their own and are helping to fundraise in Jean’s memory.

Toni said: “Despite getting a place with less time to train and fundraise we are well on our way to reaching our fundraising target and have so far raised over £1,100 for the hospice.

“Jean used to love watching the marathon and joked every year that she would be taking part. When the marathon came on TV last year and none of us received the familiar call from our grandmother it made us want to do something to make her proud.

“Jean was such a fun and loving woman and we know she’d have been thrilled that we’re doing this. My cousins and I were all very close to our grandmother and we’re all doing our bit. Stephanie is going to run the marathon with me on the day from her home in America and Natalie is joining us for the last mile here in the UK.

“We’re raising money for Severn Hopsice because of the huge difference they made to Jean in the last years of her life. They were her loving hospice family and we can’t thank them enough for their incredible care and support.”

To support Toni and her cousins in their marathon mission to fundraise for our hospice visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SomeoneSpecial/MarathonforJean to make a donation.