A visually impaired mother and daughter from Holbeach overcame a host of setbacks to complete the London Marathon together on Sunday while raising £1,500 for Sense.
Elizabeth Morris-Sampson (18), and her mum Marie Sampson (47), both have a hereditary condition which meant they were born with cataracts.
When she was just 11, Elizabeth developed glaucoma. She was effectively blind for a period but has had numerous operations to restore some of her vision.
One of those took place earlier this year, completely disrupting the pair’s training, as did a sperate operation for endometriosis and a foot injury.
But with Marie acting as Elizabeth’s guide runner, the pair still managed to go from a first run of 800 metres to completing the marathon in punishingly hot conditions in seven hours, ten minutes.
“Finishing the race and crossing that finishing line was an amazing feeling,” said trainee nurse Elizabeth. “It was one of the best moments in my life.
“I think it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
“I’m glad that at mile seven I saw my dad Darren Morris, sister Alyssa-Rose and great aunt Kathie Richbell and it made me think it would be an embarrassment if they’d come to see me and I didn’t finish.
“I had a lot of moments in training where I didn’t think I would be able to do it.
“At one point the only training I could do was walking the dog.”
Marie has run the marathon previously in four hours 30 minutes and had to learn to run more slowly as she guided Elizabeth, whose vision is blurred apart from when she’s focussing on one thing.
The pair wore signs on their backs, one asking runners behind to overtake on Marie’s side.
Elizabeth is also autistic and has a fear of crowds, so as well as telling her about potential obstacles, Marie supported her daughter at the start, until they found a specialist tent for those with a disability.
“We’d aimed to complete it in under seven hours but there was a couple of times Elizabeth was heaving at the side of the road,” said Marie, who used to work for Sense but now runs her own photography business called Slice of Life. “I’m incredibly proud of her; she’s absolutely remarkable and just keeps doing amazing things.
“She’s very determined and able to push through and not let any challenges stop her. She’s all about finding solutions to any issues she might have and then moving forward.”
Elizabeth says she ‘thinks she has the running bug now’ and has signed up for the ballot for next year’s London Marathon.
“We know about all the work Sense does and the amount of support it provides,” she continued. “I’m really pleased with how much we’ve raised as, because of all the setbacks, we haven’t been able to put the fundraising events on that we wanted to. We do plan to put some on soon though.”
You can donate at www.justgiving.com/page/elizabeth-morris-sampson-marathon2025
