'Running 31 marathons in 31 days changed my life'

Last Christmas, Ben Blowes had almost completed his challenge of running a marathon every day in December and was on course to raise a target-busting £225,000 for a children's brain tumour charity. BBC News looks back at the feat of endurance and finds out what difference it has made to children and their families.

Thirty-one marathons, one for every day of December. Even for an experienced, competitive runner it sounds a crazy idea.

After a chance meeting with Debs Mitchell, who set up Tom's Trust after the death of her son, Ben Blowes decided to pound 812.2 miles (1,307km) of road in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

Each run was dedicated to a child given psychological support by the charity, hence the challenge's name, 31 Stars. It aimed to raise £31,000 - enough to help 31 children for a year.

"It was gruelling, there's no two ways about it," says Ben, a fitness instructor who lives in Gazeley, near Newmarket, Suffolk.

"I was training for months beforehand. I'd been building up to it and I'd been running for 20 years.

"My wife said, 'How are you doing this and making it look easy?', but it wasn't.

"The whole of December, that's all it was; running and getting ready to run, that was how I looked at it.

"I was still working full time, so I was getting up at 4am to do a fitness class before each marathon, then coming back and doing another.

"But I wasn't that confident we would hit £31,000 - we were in lockdown again, people weren't going out, and perhaps they thought I wouldn't finish."

With a child's name printed on his running vest each day, and their moving stories shared on social media, news of Ben's incredible feat spread.

He had slogged through wind, rain and cold without seeing a single soul, but suddenly that all changed.

"One of the biggest things for me - apart from the money coming in, which was amazing - was the amount of people who supported us," he says.

"The first few days, I hardly saw anybody, then after a couple of weeks, I'd be running in the middle of nowhere, and the next thing I know there'd be five cars with people sitting on top of them, kids banging saucepans.

"I'd think 'How long have they been there, waiting for me?'

"It's very humbling. It's very difficult for me to feel sorry for myself. I was in pain, I was injured, but it kept me going."

Ben was on his way to raising £225,000, seven times his target, and enough to help hundreds of children and their families.

Ever the competitor, he had hoped to finish each marathon in under four hours, which would have been a new honour for Ben, who holds a Guinness World Record, for running the London Marathon with a tumble dryer on his back.

"I didn't make it. I got up to day 28, and then on day 29 I had to go to hospital when I became injured - but it probably added to the money coming in."

He completed one run on crutches and powered on, crossing the final finish line in Newmarket on 31 December, with sons Joel and Spencer.

"Twelve months on, I'm struggling to comprehend it, really," says the 49-year-old.

"It's changed my life. Everyone knows me for it.

"I went to the supermarket the other day and someone recognised me and said 'well done'.

"I switched on the Christmas lights in Newmarket this year. It was incredible. I almost feel I don't deserve it.

"I'm just a silly runner who had a silly idea."

Riley, 11, of Colchester, was diagnosed with a brain tumour just before his eighth birthday. He is on regular medication and has several hospital appointments each year.

Mum Gill says the tumour is currently dormant but causes a raging thirst and inhibits his growth, both of which he receives treatment for.

The family was put in touch with Tom's Trust and assigned a clinical psychologist, Angela, within weeks of his diagnosis.

"She has been by his side ever since. She has helped him through everything," says Gill.

Riley has needed Angela's support with many things, including problems at school.

"She helped him this year with the transition to secondary school, and she also helps me and his dad because it's been a very challenging time," says Gill.

"She supports us and she's been amazing; a massive lifeline to us.

"We'd be lost without her sometimes; she always knows the right thing to say."

She adds Riley was "really chuffed and excited" to be one of Ben's stars, and that they followed every single run.

"About five days after his [Riley's] marathon, we went to meet him [Ben] before he set off on another marathon, and Riley started it with him," she says.

"I know it costs £1,000 a year for basic care for each child so the amount of extra children they can now help is incredible.

"Plus the money they get directly helps Riley and I can see it helping Riley, so I will always support them.

"He's doing such an amazing thing.

"He's a lovely guy and I think he's incredible and a really nice bloke, so kind and generous.

"It's been wonderful to have Riley be part of it."

Debs Mitchell founded Cambridgeshire-based Tom's Trust to fund psychological and mental heath support to children with brain tumours and their families.

It was what she and her family desperately needed but did not receive when her son, Tom, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2010. He died just seven months later, aged nine.

"He struggled to go in and out of hospital and [his two sisters] needed support and didn't get any," says Debs.

"Then we had the devastating news that Tom wasn't going to survive.

"It's really hard to know how to tell your children their brother isn't going to be there and we didn't know how to do it.

"I didn't want other families to be be unsupported - it's not just mum, dad and the child, it's siblings, grandparents. It has a huge a ripple effect and mental health is key."

A runner herself, she knows the mental and physical endurance required for Ben's challenge.

"I realised how appropriate it was for the work we do - it's marrying up the physical with mental health," she says.

"Without one, you haven't got the other, and whatever it is that drives you on and keeps you going, Ben has it in spades.

"It was the most unbelievable time because the following grew and grew and grew.

"I thought it would be a tough one, but of course it was wonderful and the children [he ran for] were very motivated by it. Their courage was championed. It really explained the plight of the children and the families and their bravery."

The charity helps children via Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and at the Great North Children's Hospital in Newcastle, and, thanks to Ben, it is looking at where it can put its third and fourth centres.

"For us to come out of that year and grow and plan at a time when smaller charities are really struggling and failing, is incredible," she says.

"All those families that we didn't feel we would be able to support, we can, because it surpassed all expectation - it's an enormous amount of money.

"Without him we wouldn't have been able to do that. I think he has got the biggest heart.

"The mental strength of putting yourself through that, and not giving up, that's quite special."

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