Mansfield woman ran London Marathon to raise funds for Versus Arthritis

Donna Simpson-Eyre, 44, started running in September 2019 and since then her confidence contined to grow.

She decided to challenge herself and joined more than 40,000 runners for the London Marathon on Sunday, April 23, in aid of charity Versus Arthritis.

Donna said: “I decided to run for Versus Arthritis, because my mum has suffered with rheumatoid arthritis since the age of 17.

“The majority of her life has been a struggle, coping with mobility, pain, numerous stays in hospital and not being able to do the simplest of tasks that we all take for granted.

“My mum has had the majority of her joints replaced over the years, and some of them on more than one occasion, but still manages to keep a smile on her face and keep our ever-growing family in check.

“After years of trying different medications, she was put on a immunosuppressant medication, which did help for a while, but eventually gave her long-term liver damage.

“My mum is still young at 64 and I wanted to raise as much money as possible for the charity to help prevent others with arthritis suffering in the same way mum and our family have.”

Donna, who works as a receptionist at Lawrence Veterinary Centre in Eastwood, completed the marathon in four hours and 47 minutes.

Donna said: “The day was absolutely amazing and I loved every second.

"I was so nervous on the run up to the big day but for some reason on marathon morning I was totally prepared and really calm and collected ready to go.

"I just told myself its only four 10km with a little cool down, so I just focused on 10km at a time.

"I’m still on cloud nine and feel very emotional and proud to what I have achieved and very grateful to everyone that has helped me raise over £2,300 for Versus Arthritis, it’s just absolutely amazing and enables the charity to continue in their research.

To make a donation visit www.2023tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/donna-simpson-eyre.