A doctor at Leighton Hospital is to take on the London Marathon to raise money in her dad’s memory.
Katy Sutcliffe, who lives in Nantwich, was devastated after her father Andy committed suicide in 2015, aged just 51.
Now Katy, a member of South Cheshire Harriers, has secured a spot at this year’s London Marathon to run and raise money for mental healthy charity, Mind.
And she’ll be following in her late dad’s footsteps as he completed the same race back in 2001.
“My dad was a brilliant dad, he was the person everyone else went to for advice,” she said.
“He worked offshore – he was a production engineer on a gas rig – in a traditionally male environment and struggled to seek help when he suffered with depression.
“I think he felt he’d exhausted all of his options.
“He was told that he couldn’t take antidepressants and work offshore. He didn’t want to let anybody down, he’d never even taken any time off sick.”
Katy, originally from South Tyneside where her parents lived, moved to Nantwich in summer 2017 to work at Leighton Hospital.
“My Dad got me into running in 2012 and we ran the great north run together in 2014, just four months before he died.
“I’m running the London Marathon to raise money for Mind. My target is £2000 and I’m just over halfway there.”
Katy trained as a Mental Health First Aid instructor with MHFA England in 2016 to raise awareness around mental health, reduce stigma and give people the confidence to talk about mental health.
“A huge number of people have spoken to me about mental health after my dad died.
“It’s like they know I won’t be judgemental and feel safe to do so. I wish that was just the norm.”
Katy is also delivering a mental health awareness course on Wednesday April 10 at Regents Park in Nantwich to combine raising funds for Mind, with raising awareness.
Details of Katy’s course are online here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mental-health-awareness-event-tickets-56319777972
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