A WOMAN with epilepsy is taking on a marathon effort to raise money for a charity that supports fellow sufferers.

Charley Anne, who grew up in Bicester, will be running the London Marathon in October to raise money for the Epilepsy Society, a charity that provides research, advocacy and care for epilepsy sufferers.

Miss Alderton has already raised £1,500 through her Just Giving page, and hopes to raise a total of £2,500.

The runner is also trying to raise money through an online raffle, where she can encourage local organisations to offer gifts and services for people to purchase.

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She said: “I’m really excited. A bit anxious for the day too, as it will be super busy, but I’ve got my teammates with me and we’re all in the same boat.

“I come from a sporting background; my grampy used to own the Trysports on Sheep Street, he used to supply the town with sporting gear.

“I’m carrying on his sporting legacy.”

The 34-year-old sales assistant, who works in Loro Piana at Bicester Village, suffers from a form of the brain disorder called juvenile absence epilepsy.

It is characterised by the sporadic occurrence of absence seizures.

Miss Alderton added: “My condition will affect me during the marathon.

“I have seizures throughout my time running. They can be brought on by a rise in my heart rate. But they’re unnoticeable to most people.

“I would just appear to be daydreaming but I’m not actually conscious. I don’t fall to the floor or anything.

“I’ve never let the condition worry me, it’s never stopped me from working and I’ve always done the things I wanted to do.

“I’ve had it since I was seven or eight years old.”

Miss Alderton said she has been training three times a week, where the heat allows, and tends to run either first thing in the morning or after work in the evening.

Her online raffle is not live yet, but her initial social media posts promoting the idea have received positive responses from local businesses and organisations.  

Miss Alderton said: “I’ve been in contact with Bicester Village, I’m hoping they will donate something.

“I’m making my way around local businesses too to ask them if they would like to donate to the raffle.

“The monetary donations so far have come from friends, family, co-workers, my boyfriend and his work colleagues and my mum, who’s been doing lots of bake sales.”

Miss Alderton hopes to finish the marathon within four-and-a-half-hours, but said that just getting across the finishing line will be the “biggest achievement ever.”

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1

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