Congratulations to Dr James Cheshire, Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, who completed the Edinburgh Marathon last week in the speedy time of 3 hours and 29 minutes! Dr James trained whilst he was visiting our FAST-M Sepsis project in Malawi in the two months leading up to the Marathon, enduring 4am training sessions, being chased by wild dogs and overcoming an injury.

Dr James ran the Edinburgh Marathon in aid of Ammalife and to help fight maternal sepsis. James noted; ‘I made it one of my life goals to complete a marathon by the time I was 21 and for the last 6 years I have kept pushing back the deadline. Now that I had a cause worth running for, there was no backing out!’ James ran the marathon in aid of Ammalife because of his passion to improve maternal healthcare; ‘around the world, a mother dies of complications from pregnancy and childbirth every two minutes. That’s 800 mothers every day, the majority of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa. The vast majority of these deaths are preventable.’

James’ BT MyDonate Page is open for donations until 27th June. You can sponsor him here; your donation can also be gift aided, increasing your donation by 25%. He is just a few pounds away from reaching his £2,000 target! As James noted, ‘your donation will ensure that the great work Ammalife have been doing to improve the care of mothers with maternal infections, continues long after my study finishes.’

Well done Dr James and thank you on behalf of Ammalife! We’re all very proud of you and grateful for your efforts.