I ran the London Marathon after recovering from a transplant

But after months of training, hundreds of miles, and a few tears, I can officially say I am part of the one per cent of people who can call themselves a marathoner.

I entered the London Marathon ballot on the day of last year’s marathon, inspired by the efforts of my cousin John who had taken on the iconic 26.2-mile course to raise money for an amazing charity called Starlight.

The charity had paid for John, my dad, and I to go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Florida in 2011, and I couldn’t be prouder of him for wanting to give something back.

Two years before we landed in the Sunshine State, when I was just 11, I was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, a rare blood disorder caused by the bone marrow not functioning properly.

My only chance of survival was a stem cell transplant, which was made possible by the incredible team at Anthony Nolan, a charity which matches patients and strangers ready to make lifesaving donations.

Before my transplant, I was being kept alive by a cocktail of drugs and up to nine blood transfusions a week. My transplant worked wonders and I've only had one blood transfusion since, so I feel incredibly lucky every day.

I literally owe my life to Anthony Nolan and my amazing donor who gave me a second shot at life, so taking on the London Marathon to raise money for the charity was an easy choice for me to make.

Anthony Nolan saved my life and it has been a pleasure to raise money for the charity (Image: Elliot Deady)

My marathon journey started from scratch the day after I entered the ballot. I hadn’t run at all for about three years and could barely run for 60 seconds. I questioned if I could do it but throughout this journey, I’ve reminded myself that the pain of marathon training is nothing compared to what I went through as a youngster.

Eventually, the runs got easier, a 5k turned into a 10k which turned into a half marathon, and in January I started my 16-week marathon training plan.

Over the past four months, I’ve consistently logged the miles and have more recently spent a lot of time with the team at Thrive Gyms in Colchester making sure my legs are marathon-ready.

I don’t talk much about what happened to me all those years ago; it was a very long time ago now.

I had a life-saving stem cell transplant in 2010 (Image: Elliot Deady)

But running the London Marathon has fuelled a fire in me to shout about the amazing work of Anthony Nolan and I’m proud to have banked more than £3,000 for them.

It costs the charity about £40 to add a new donor to the register, so I’ve raised enough to add 75 donors. That’s a lot of lives potentially saved. The lives of people like me.

I owe a huge thanks to so many local businesses for supporting my fundraising: Lizzie Potter Therapy, Lil’ Reds Children’s Entertainment, Thrive Gyms, Firstsite, Fenwick, The Three Horseshoes, Beth Chatto’s Gardens, Fairfields Farm Crisps, Patch, Tesco Highwoods, the Marks Tey Hotel, the Mercury Theatre, Perrywood, and Poplar Nurseries. Your generosity has helped save lives.

If you’d like to add to my fundraising total, please visit justgiving.com/deady. Every penny really is appreciated.

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MARATHON training is hard. I underestimated just how hard it would be.

But surrounding myself with like-minded people has made all the difference.

I’m really lucky that many of my friends are also runners. My friend Ben has given up nearly every Thursday night for the past year to run with me and we watched our friend Tom smash the Brighton Marathon a few weeks ago which was hugely inspiring.

My friends Ben and Tom joined me to collect my bib number at the London Marathon expo (Image: Elliot Deady)

I’ve made some amazing new friends along the way too, and lots of us had one thing in common – we were all running the London Marathon for Anthony Nolan.

One of my Anthony Nolan teammates, Kate, is no stranger to the marathon and is like a walking (running) encyclopaedia full of London Marathon knowledge.

Not only is she hugely knowledgeable, but she is also the mastermind behind our team group chat which I joined in the early days of my marathon training.

I’ve made lifelong friends with some of my Anthony Nolan teammates. We’ve run together, laughed together, and cried together.

Everyone has an amazing story to tell, whether they’ve received a transplant like me or are running in memory of a loved one.

Jess and I tackled one of our longest runs together after meeting as part of Team Anthony Nolan (Image: Elliot Deady)

And to my surprise, I’ve even met a few runners from north Essex along the way. Jacqui Kettle, from Ramsey near Harwich, is one of them.

Jacqui wanted to support Anthony Nolan after losing her dad to blood cancer two years ago.

“I was quite tearful when they offered me a place,” she told me.

“I’ve made some wonderful friends all running for Anthony Nolan and had great support from the team.

“I won’t ever forget the journey to get to the marathon and I’ll never forget the reason why I’ve done this – for all the ones that are not with us now but also for all the ones we can still offer hope to.”

Like me, Jacqui has found getting to know other marathoners has benefitted her training.

She added: “Kate has been great on our WhatsApp group. She answers everyone’s questions and has been a great support, as has everyone on the group.”