Lee Glass Manager Matt, Running London Marathon in Memory of Beloved Mother-in-Law
Matt Halliwell is currently balancing his role as a Manager at our Bulwell office with training for the London Marathon.
Sutton-in-Ashfield man, Matt, is set to embark on the London Marathon this year in memory of his ‘Mother-in-Law to be’ who passed away in 2020.
Matt’s Mother-in-Law, Sue Rimmer, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS is a neurological condition where the immune system attacks the nervous system. Sue had a progressive form of MS, meaning her symptoms deteriorated over time.
In his Mother-in-Law’s memory, Matt, 45, will be running the marathon in October, and raising funds for the MS Society.
Matt and his partner, Sue’s daughter Karen, have both lived in Nottinghamshire their whole life, as did Sue. They have many family and friends in Sutton-in-Ashfield who were devastated to lose Sue, including their two daughters, Sue’s grandchildren, Maisie (10) & Hannah (8).
Sue’s death was made all the more difficult as she passed away during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic when visits to family were not permitted.
Karen said: “Mum always said that although she had MS, MS did not have her, and for almost 25 years she lived with and battled against her diagnosis of Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis”
“It is important to raise awareness that MS can affect different people in many different ways. Mum was just 35 when diagnosed with MS which can affect anyone at any age.”
Matt added: “Sadly, when Sue passed away there was still no cure for MS, but the MS Society do some great work on medical research, searching for treatments, and trying to achieve their vision of a world free from the effects of MS.”
“I was accepted by the MS Society to run in London in October and raise money for the society and this is just such a great opportunity to help them, and honour Sue’s memory”
“Several businesses that we work closely with at Lee Glass have already helped with my fundraising, including generous donations from our IT Support specialists at IDT , Glass Processing Software specialists Clear Thinking Software , Car & Commercial Vehicle Repairs who manage our fleet of vans, Steve and his team at MP Glass and a pledge from Martin Lee, MD of Lee Glass, that the company will also support me with a generous donation. With two and a half months to the race I am halfway to the £2,000.00 that I need to raise.”
Matt, who only ran 5km for the first time when he was 40, and last year completed his first 13.1 mile half marathon, will run the full 26.2 mile London Marathon on October 3 of this year and is aiming for a time as close to four hours as he can.
He recently began a 16-week training plan which he will have to balance alongside his work commitments, as well as finalising plans for his wedding to Karen.
They were due to marry last year but were forced to postpone the big day before Sue’s health deteriorated. Following several cancellations due to Covid-19, they will now tie the knot in August this year.
You can donate to Matthew’s JustGiving page here and you can also follow his marathon training on his Strava page here.