‘What better way to honour my husband’s memory than to cross the marathon line in my wedding dress’

A woman will run the final few miles of the London Marathon in her bridal dress in memory of her late husband on what would have been their wedding anniversary. Laura Coleman-Day, of Witham St Hughes, has spent the past year running marathons in a mammoth fundraising challenge for Anthony Nolan, a charity which secured a stem cell transplant for her late husband Xander Coleman-Day after his acute lymphoblastic leukaemia diagnosis in 2022. Unfortunately, while he was free of cancer, Xander battled with graft vs host disease after the transplant — where the white blood cells he had received from his transplant were attacking cells in his liver — and he died in February 2024.

In his memory, Laura decided to run 12 marathons in 12 months to raise money for Anthony Nolan’s life-saving research into graft vs host disease, and began on May 18, 2024, with the Rutland Water marathon. She is set to finish her challenge this month, running the TCS London Marathon on April 27 — a particularly special occasion for Laura, as the date marks what should have been her and Xander’s sixth wedding anniversary. It is the second time she will run the major race for the charity, having ran in 2023 to thank it for arranging the transplant.



Laura said: “I’m just really excited now, it’s been a long time coming. I get to run alongside my friend Kate Walford who has just started her 12 marathons in 12 months challenge for Anthony Nolan.” To make the end of her challenge even more special, Laura plans to run the final few miles in her wedding dress.

“I just thought, what better way to honour Xander’s memory than to cross the line in my wedding dress,” Laura added. “I do think he’s been with me at every marathon, and I know that he will be there for me at London. “I’m never going to wear the dress again, so I thought ‘why not?’.

” It is Laura’s determination to complete her challenge for Xander and Anthony Nolan which has kept her running — despite the challenges of running a marathon every month and training while looking after her young son. “To be honest, I can’t wait for it be over — it’s been far more of a challenge that I ever thought it was going to be,” Laura said. “Not only the training, and running the marathons, but the organisation behind it.

“But, having said that, I’ve met some of the most amazing people doing these runs, all running for their own reasons. Everyone has been so supportive, it’s been a really humbling experience.” Her efforts have paid off — having already raised more than £13,500 for Anthony Nolan via her JustGiving page — www.

justgiving.com/page/laura-coleman-day-169546514750 — exceeding her £12,000 target. She’s also picked up a bonus 13th marathon along the way, having run in Guernsey to kick off her friend Kate’s challenge alongside her.

To celebrate the end of her challenge — and finally being able to put her feet up and cheer on Kate from the sidelines — Laura will host a black tie ceremony in Lincoln in aid of the charity. She added: “I’d love to get more money in, it’s only going to do fantastic things. “I’m so, so grateful to everyone who has donated, it all makes such a difference.

It just goes to show that people care, they want to be part of something that matters, and I think that’s incredible.”.