Judi Bonham on running the London Marathon

• Posted onApril 27, 2017

Congratulations to Judi Bonham, Managing Partner at WSP Solicitors, on completing the London Marathon at the weekend.

Judi ran to raise much needed funds for a small charity, APEC, who promote awareness of Pre-eclampsia in pregnancy. The work being done to provide the care that is needed has recently been recognised in a Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths and The Lancet published a comment piece saying that improved monitoring of pregnant women, good diagnosis and timely delivery has improved outcomes for pregnant women in the UK so that less than 1 in 10,000 women in the UK die in pregnancy and women who get Pre-eclampsia have a less than 1 in 1,000,000 chance of dying.

Professor Andrew Shennan, one of the authors of the study, said, “This reduction in mortality in the UK in mothers with Pre-eclampsia is quite remarkable. Good care in the NHS, driven by sound evidence based medicine and disseminated by NICE guidelines means the rest of the world will be driven to emulate this success. This is a real success story.”

In 2006-8, 19 women died from Pre-eclampsia in the UK and this is now down to 2 deaths in 2012-14.  To put this into perspective, globally 5 women an hour currently die from Pre-eclampsia.

Judi said “Reading the comment [above] made me realise how lucky we are in the UK to have access to good care from the NHS and charities like APEC who, through their work, continually drive improvements forward and make a difference.”

Judi trained for many weeks and months in preparation for the big day on Sunday 23^rd April, running 4 times a week in the dark winter evenings and cold frosty mornings, with often only a head torch for company. On the day she completed the full 26.2 miles in 5 hours 27 minutes, 21 seconds and raised a fantastic total of £2970 for her chosen charity APEC.

Judi about her experience: “I am so proud to have completed the London Marathon, enjoying the noise of the crowds, the music and the sights of London. I didn’t quite qualify for Team GB (this time!!) but the spirit and experience of the day was truly wonderful. If anyone is thinking about running the London Marathon my advice is to just do it!”

Find more information on APEC, Action on Pre-eclampsia.