Gemma Hillery

After 3 years of trying to secure a place in the London Marathon - 2025 is my time to shine!! I am so excited to be running the Marathon and to do it in support of Asthma + Lung UK. This is a charity so close to my heart and I feel passionate about spreading awareness about lung health in the UK and how this is currently being handled.

I was diagnosed with asthma officially when I was 20. My symptoms started when I was 19. I was given an inhaler and sent on my way. I had constant admissions to hospital after my diagnosis due to my asthma not being controlled. In October 2019 I became really poorly in the night and went to out of hours at 6am. At this appointment I was told I wasn’t that unwell because I could speak a full sentence and sent home with steroids. By 2pm that day I was blue lighted by ambulance to resus and eventually sent to intensive care. I narrowly avoided being put in an induced coma so a machine could breathe for me due to my body struggling so badly. Luckily, I survived this and since then have been under specialist in Leicester, my asthma is really well controlled I have managed to start running at the beginning of this year and join the gym. Something I would never have been able to do prior to this.

This is going to be a HUGE challenge for me but I  am ready for it! Let’s goooooo!!! 🏃🏻‍♀️