A Lichfield runner who completed the London Marathon despite breaking his leg during the race said he was ‘carried’ to the finish line by the ‘strength and bravery’ of his mum who beat breast cancer. Nick Brown, 29, has raised nearly £5,000 for Cancer Research UK after completing the gruelling 26-mile race - a cause close to his heart after a number of recent diagnoses in his family.
Nick Brown, a professional musician, was on course for an impressive race time after training for nearly a year to complete the marathon. But disaster struck at the 18-mile mark when Nick started to feel ‘horrendous’ pain in his right leg - later confirmed to be a leg break.
Nick ignored advice from race physios to drop out of the race, and said quitting ‘never crossed his mind.’ Inspired by the courage of his family members battling cancer, Nick said: “I did it for them.”
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Professional saxophonist Nick Brown decided to run the London Marathon after being inspired by his mother and grandmother, both recently diagnosed with cancer. “I thought a marathon would be a great way to honour their strength and bravery,” he said. “It seemed like a fitting tribute.”
Training four times a week in the year prior to the race, Nick felt in tip-top shape to tackle the marathon and felt ‘really confident’ at the start line. He said: “For the first half of the race, everything felt brilliant. Running felt really easy, I was flying through it and my family were saying how strong I was looking.”
But halfway through the race, Nick noticed a ‘twinge’ in his leg which later became a ‘sharp pain’ that got ‘worse and worse’. “I still had 18-miles to run,” he said. “The pain was horrendous.
“I was stopping at every physio to get checked out - and one even told me to drop out of the race and that I shouldn’t be running. But with the cause, that was never really an option.
“I found a way to move that limited the pain somewhat, all I could do was push forward and smile through it - but the last couple of miles seemed to go on forever. It felt like the crowds were absorbing the pain, cheering me on to the finish line.”
After a gruelling race, Nick crossed the finish line before ‘collapsing’ into the arms of a paramedic who took him for checks in an ambulance. The next day, Nick woke up in ‘scream-worthy pain’ and was rushed to hospital where it was confirmed he had broken his leg during the race.
The determined runner now faces six to eight weeks of recovery until he is able to walk again, but said he was proud to have raised £4,500 for Cancer Research UK. “It never crossed my mind that I wasn’t going to finish it,” he said.
“I did it for the people I was running in memory of and in celebration of. I carried four pictures in my running belt of members of my family who have been affected by cancer - they carried me to the finish line.”
Nick Brown’s marathon fundraiser is still accepting donations - to donate, click here .
