Burton Latimer teacher's London Marathon goal

Burton Latimer music teacher Louise Chapman, 29, will be taking part in the famous race on Sunday, April 22.

She said: “Having had asthma all my life, and have parents who also suffer, Asthma UK is a charity close to my heart.

“I started having asthma between the age of nine and 12 months, but one of my earliest recollections of it being particularly bad was when I was about six when I had an asthma attack.

“I don’t remember much but remember shouting “Mummy I need my yellow asthma drink” (this was my asthma medicine) and the next thing I knew was that I was in hospital on a nebuliser.

“From then on, I have had a wide variety of treatments including more nebulisers, steroid treatment and inhalers.

“To keep my asthma under control I still have to take two or three types of inhaler daily, especially now I’m running in the cold British winter!

“As a student, I always hated PE, and would use the ‘excuse’ of having asthma to get out of it at any given opportunity.

“I was the one who would struggle through the first half lap of cross-country, go and hide, and then get my classmates to tell me when it was the final half lap.

“With this in mind, I thought “What’s the best way for someone who sometimes struggles to breathe and hates running to raise some money? Oh yeah... how about run a marathon?!

“I’m running the 2018 London Marathon as a personal challenge – it’s something I’d always said I’d want to do but never thought I would; and to promote the fantastic work that Asthma UK do – to fund world-class asthma research; campaign to improve the quality of care recieved by people with asthma; and to help hundreds of thousands of people a year with their expert advice and support.”

Louise’s fundraising page can be found here.