My Marathon Experience - Helen Stringer-Woolston

By: Helen Stringer-Woolston (Mathew’s Wife)

Whilst cheering on our friends mum last year in the Marathon my husband decided that he would like to run the Marathon in 2008, on the journey home after the Marathon he had already decided the charity that he wanted to raise money for, Epilepsy Action. Little did I realise how this would have a huge impact on our lives especially in the last few days leading up to the big day!!

Months before; charts were made and placed on the fridge, listing the ideal foods to eat and the sort of miles he should be doing each week, people were signing up to sponsor him, their generosity was astounding. Banners were being made and T-shirts were being written on. My husband would be out pounding the streets about 5 times a week, one particular day he woke up at 11pm to go to work, started work at midnight was home by 9.30am and decided he would go and run 23.5 miles, which he did and he didn’t even look tired!!

On Wednesday 9th April 2008 my husband, myself, our 11 year old daughter and my mum all went up to the Excel centre to get his number, 51724. What a fantastic day, we saw the Masai Warriors and we met two really friendly ladies on the ‘Epilepsy Action’ stall, my mum was so happy that there was a stall for Epilepsy, as she has suffered with it for over 50 years. Mind you, my mum couldn’t stop chatting!

So, you are probably asking yourself ‘Why pick Epilepsy Action?’; well, In September 2001, my brother, David Stringer, fell down a flight of metal stairs, this resulted in a bad head injury and he suffered a lot of fits due to the accident. His fits were then under control due to medication but in 2005 he started night-work, we didn’t realise until it was too late that this would have affected his sleep pattern and resulted in a serious seizure in February and then on 8th August 2005 he died in his sleep during an epileptic seizure, he was all alone and my dad found him the following evening. We have encountered many downfalls in our family but this was the worst that we ever had to get through. Even to this day it seems unreal that he is gone, he was 40 when he died, he was my older brother and always looked out for me; I now know what it means when people say their heart is broken; there is a piece missing and it can never be filled. A couple of years before my brother had saved my mum’s life during a seizure, to which I am truly grateful.

Epilepsy is all around us, but not many people truly understand it. My mum, Margaret Stringer, praises Epilepsy Action so much, the helpline has helped her many times. Our friends daughter suffered a seizure on the day that she found out David had died, she had never had one before and has since been diagnosed with Epilepsy. A couple of our friends both with 5 year old sons, their sons are epileptic too.

Hopefully by raising money to help Epilepsy Action we can give back a little of what they have given us. When you call the helpline there is always someone friendly to speak to.

As I am writing this it is the day before the Marathon, my husband is very nervous, so much so that yesterday he felt ill with nerves. Today has been spent getting everything ready; it’s like a military manoeuvre! So a big shout to Mathew Woolston (a big shout at that as he is deaf!) as he runs 26.2 miles.

The day arrived, emotions were running high, Mathew was feeling the pressure as a lot of money had been sponsored and he wanted to make sure he could complete it. All our family were there cheering him on, after a very emotional finish he completed the Marathon in 4 hrs 42 mins and 28 secs and has raised £2,595.00 for Epilepsy Action. A great achievement, we are all so proud of Mathew and would like to thank him for what he has done in memory of a dear Brother/Son/Uncle.