Lewis & Nathalie's Ectopic Pregnancy Story and The Manchester Marathon
Nathalie and I are incredibly lucky to have our gorgeous boy Quinn in our lives who arrived in October 2021. The dream is to one day give Quinn a baby brother or sister and complete our family.
In the early hours of 16th November 2022, after a phone call with 111, my partner Nathalie was advised to get to Macclesfield A&E as soon as possible. Quinn had only just turned 1 year old so Nathalie being the trooper that she is drove herself to A&E whilst I stayed at home and watched over Quinn whilst he slept. Later that morning, after several observations, examinations and blood tests, we were told that Nathalie was 6-weeks pregnant but was likely having a miscarriage. Four hours later Nathalie was in for emergency surgery as our pregnancy was ectopic and her Fallopian tube had started to burst. Due to the quick response of the nurses, doctors and surgeons at Macclesfield Hospital, the emergency surgery to remove Nathalie’s ruptured Fallopian tube was successful. However, in doing so, we lost our 6-week baby boy/girl.
We are so incredibly lucky to have supportive family, friends and colleagues that have helped us through what was one of the hardest things Nathalie and I have ever experienced in our lives, both physically and emotionally.
As a keen runner, I entered and completed my first Half Marathon in October 2022 (Manchester Half Marathon), unbeknownst to me what we were going to experience a month later. Personally, I was and still do use running to help cope with the grief and to process what we had just been through as a family.
In May 2023, I decided to enter the 2024 Manchester Marathon (and the 2023 Manchester Half Marathon again) and began my 45-week training programme. Now this might seem a bit excessive to some but my thought process was: “If I am doing this, I’m taking this very seriously and going for a sub 4-hour time whilst raising money and awareness for an amazing cause”. Over the 45-week training period, I documented each run on Strava and Instagram whilst sharing key information about the amazing work The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust do and personally creating awareness amongst my family, friends, colleagues, ex-colleagues, etc. Training through all four seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, I can confidently say that this was the hardest part about training. Going out for a run in the high 20 degree heat, direct sun in the summer and at its lowest point, -8 degrees snow/frost in winter. Every time I ever had a thought of, “can I be bothered, in this weather” I simply reminded myself what the end goal was and why I am doing this.
The day finally arrived. Sunday 14th April 2024. This was also mine and Nathalie’s six year wedding anniversary. We headed into the City Centre on the tram with Quinn where Nathalie met up with my Dad to cheer me on. Just as I was entering the race starting process and saying goodbye to Nathalie and Quinn, I revealed a lilac headband, matching my Ectopic Pregnancy Trust purple running vest, with the words “YOU WERE ONLY CARRIED FOR A MOMENT, BUT ARE LOVED FOR A LIFETIME” written on it. Emotions were high and Nathalie, Quinn, and I shared a moment remembering our little angel before I headed for the start line.
At 10:40, along with my fellow Orange Wave runners, I was off. Some people prefer to plug in and listen to music whilst they run, others will get chatting with other runners on their way round. I had a playlist ready but a couple of kilometres into the race, I got chatting to two lovely lads, Iain and Josh, who made the experience that much more enjoyable.
It really is true what people say about not being able to prepare for those final miles of a marathon. After breaking through the 20-mile wall, cramp started to set in, in both of my quads and one hamstring. There was no way after 22 miles I was stopping here. Reminding myself of some sound advice that Jill in the EPT Fundraising team gave me: “Run the first 10 miles with your head, the next 10 miles with your legs, and the last 10km with your heart”, I slowed the pace down and stretched it out as best I could and dug deep. I crossed the finish line with a time of 3 hours, 44 minutes and 21 seconds, with tears in my eyes and kissing my headband, once again remembering our little angel, I DID IT!
I would again like to take this opportunity to thank Jill and the incredible team at The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust for their support throughout. Special mention goes to my amazing wife, Nathalie and of course our little boy Quinn Bobby, for putting up with my running antics for the past 45 weeks. And to all the people who have supported along the way and been so kind to donate to the amazing Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, the whole reason I signed up for this madness. I cannot thank you enough!
Our sincere and heartfelt thanks goes out to Lewis for his passion, love, and determination running in the Manchester Marathon, raising huge funds and awareness and to him and Nathalie for bravely sharing their personal story. If you want to raise funds and awareness for The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, please visit our fundraising page. You can also email our Fundraising Co-ordinator Jill who will be very happy to help and guide you: Jill@ectopic.org.uk.