Mum to run marathon weeks after heart surgery

A London teacher who had heart surgery 10 weeks ago is to run the marathon on Sunday to honour her daughter, who died when she was two days old from a separate heart condition.

She took on the challenge so she could teach her pupils that "strength and joy" can be found after grief, she said.

Sophie Martin, the PE lead at St James' RC Primary School in Twickenham was diagnosed with heart arrhythmia - an abnormal heartbeat - while she was in labour with baby Olive in 2024.

The 31-year-old said: "I'd just had my heart surgery... about two weeks later I found out that I'd got in (to the marathon) and I thought 'I don't know if I can even physically do this'."

At her 12-week pregnancy scan, Olive was found to have a hypoplastic left heart syndrome, meaning the left side of the organ was underdeveloped.

Born in autumn 2024, she was "really strong", Martin said, but suffered a cardiac arrest and died two days later.

Olive's death has left her, her husband and their now four-year-old son Arthur with "a lot of grief, sadness and shock", she said.

Having taken up running during the Covid pandemic, Martin said it had helped her process her grief over Olive's death.

"For me, this marathon is a new chapter," she said.

"Running with a newly healed heart is my way of honouring Olive and showing my students, and myself, that even after immense grief, you can find strength and joy.

"It's a reminder that life keeps going and I'm ready to see how much further I can go."

It has been a challenge, she says, and she hopes she has inspired her students and taught them that difficult tasks are not impossible.

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