Marathon runner inspired by 'absolutely devastating' death of family member

James Marshall (55) will raise funds for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) next month when he takes on the 26-mile course at Hamburg in Germany.

He was devastated by the death of sister-in-law, Linda, at the end of last year, just 12 days after she suffered a cardiac arrest.

Linda, who was 57, leaves James’ brother, William, and their 15-year-old twin boys Max and Harrison.

James hopes raising thousands of pounds for the BHF, which raises vital funds for research, will help prevent future deaths like Linda’s.

Reflecting on his sister-in-law’s passing, he said: “It was absolutely devastating – less than a week earlier she had been the major bread winner in the house, the mum, the banker, everything to her three boys – the twins and my brother. It was tragic.”

Linda, who worked as an HR director, lived with her family in Redruth, Cornwall.

She collapsed back in November last year and was taken to hospital by Air Ambulance.

Her heart was restarted but Linda had suffered brain hypoxia.

“The critical care unit had withdrawn life support – her heart was beating, her lungs were working properly but to all intents and purposes she was at the end of her life,” said James, who is married to Paula and has children, Thomas (24) and 22-year-old Bryony.

James is running the Hamburg Marathon on April 23, in a city he was living and working in when he first took up running and ‘the fitness bug took over’.

“I’d been thinking about doing a marathon and now I thought ‘I’ve found the cause’,” he added.

James is also helping to promote BHF’s RevivR app, an innovative tool which teaches CPR in just 15 minutes using only a mobile phone and a cushion.

Local BHF Fundraising Manager, Paula Scaife, said: “Thank you to James for raising money for this cause – around 110,000 people are living with heart and circulatory disease in Leicestershire alone, which also kills more than one in four people in the county."

Click HERE to sponsor James.