A CARING Halstead man will take on a gruelling 26.2-mile run for charity after his 12-year-old brother suffered life-threatening epileptic seizures.
Callum Watson, 19, is a sports coaching student at Anglia Ruskin University, in Cambridge.
He is taking on the Adidas 2024 Manchester Marathon next month.
He will be raising money for the Epilepsy Society after younger brother Harry was diagnosed with the condition in December 2022.
Harry’s condition means that he has both 'absent' and 'convulsive' seizures.
The former causes the individual to lose awareness of their surroundings, where the later can affect the whole body and causes it to shake.
As a big brother, discovering Harry’s condition was distressing for Callum, especially as some seizures have led to hospital admissions, but it has now inspired him to help fundraise for charity.
He said: “I remember the night the first seizure happened and that led to a diagnosis.
“It was traumatic. It broke down our family a bit. We were all upset but it brought us together.
“For Harry, it knocked his confidence and we all had to help deal with it on an individual level and family level.
“Personally, it drives me to want to do something and that’s why I thought I would run a marathon.”
Before his decision to run the UK’s second biggest marathon, Callum would not have called himself an avid runner.
He will run alongside thousands of others on April 14 in what is his first marathon.
Although he is nervous about the challenge, he also feels positive as his 16-week running plan is going well.
Callum hopes to raise as much money as possible for charity.
He said: “It can’t be done without the generosity of other people - I am looking to get to £1,000.
“I would ask people to donate because its important, for a lot of people, it is frightening.
“I would urge purely because it means a lot, medication isn’t free, these kinds of charities help people with the condition to live a relatively normal life.
“When I told Harry I was doing this, he cried, he is incredibly excited and proud.
“We are one of those close-knit families, I’m excited to see what this challenge brings.”
To donate, head to tinyurl.com/3xr39kn6.
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