Respiratory nurse Joy Shaw from Ward 5 at HRI is running the London marathon this year to raise money for the Forget Me Not children’s hospice and for the ward.

This April Joy will be taking part in the 26 mile run around the capital for the first time.

She applied for a ballot place, which she successfully won. A ballot entry allows the runner to not be tied into a charity place however Joy took the opportunity to raise money for the hospice.

Her training includes running with her running group with HD3 Fitness in Salendine Nook every Friday. But also on top of that she does a couple more runs in the week and then a long one at the weekend. Her runs are called ‘progressive’ runs to improve her endurance and this Sunday is her 22 mile run.

She has previously done two half-marathons in Liverpool however this is her first full marathon.

She wants to raise money for Forget-Me-Not Trust because she says "their work is great". They receive £3.2m a year for funding and only 4% of that is from the government the rest is from public support.

Joy said: “I am really nervous! I have never done anything like this before. I was horrified at first when I got my place.... but I am also secretly excited about it. I just want to be able to finish it because I know the buzz will be just amazing. Plus I love London too.”

To dontate her Just Giving page is https://www.justgiving.com/Joy-Shaw2/ 

**Joy also runs a massage therapy service called New Hall Therapies. She will offer them at a reduced rate of £10 off for colleagues. To support her call 0770 2571072