Fiona is ready to take on the London marathon – and beat diabetes
BY ALEX PUGH
toby@slpmedia.co.uk
A woman whose boyfriend and brother both have the rarer type of diabetes is running the London Marathon to raise money for others living with the condition.
Fiona Macpherson lives in East Dulwich and will be running the challenging 26-mile marathon on April 28.
Her boyfriend Hakim and brother Iain are not the only people she knows with the condition – her aunt and grandfather also have Type 2 diabetes.
Ms Macpherson said: “Signing up seemed like such a good idea when I was topping up my tan watching it at mile 19 last year.”
She has already completed the Great North Run but wanted to push herself even further and hopes to finish the famous marathon in under four hours.
In preparation for the big day she has juggled hitting the gym with her job in corporate events and in the past 10 months alone she has completed seven half-marathons.
She said: “Hopefully the money I raise through sponsorship will help towards finding a cure and in raising awareness of the two conditions.”
Ms Macpherson is hoping to raise more than £2,000 for the charity and has already raised money through less exhausting bake sales and a quiz night.
Diabetes UK Fundraising Manager Andrea Baganz-Pritchard said: “We are extremely grateful to Fiona for her hard work − running a marathon is no mean feat.
“The money raised will help fund groundbreaking research, care services and campaigns that can change the lives of those living with diabetes.”
Diabetes is a condition that leads to too much glucose in the blood.
In Type 1 diabetes — 10 per cent of those with the condition — the body’s immune system destroys the cells that produce insulin, a hormone that turns glucose into energy.
Those with Type 2 still produce insulin but their bodies can’t use it properly.
Some of the symptoms to look out for are increased thirst, extreme tiredness and unexplained weight loss.
There are 4.7 million people living with diabetes in the UK and at the moment there is no cure.
Diabetes UK estimate that by 2025 there could be 5.2 million people living with diabetes.
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