Madness in Manchester 

We asked supporter Pamela Statham ten questions about running this 10k in memory of her son.

1. Why did you take part in the Great Manchester Run?
We took part in memory of our son Jamie Statham West who tragically passed away on the 6th December 2007 at just 10 months old. 

2. Who else took part in it with you?
Jamie's dad Gary took part as did Jamie's Auntie Dawn, Uncle Tom, Auntie Julie, Auntie Emma, and friends of mine Janet and Dean Watson. Jamie's sister Jessica was very upset that she couldn’t take part, so she did the Mile in Memory walk the day before. 

3. How did you train for it?
Auntie Emma and I would go walking/running on a Tuesday night and boxercise on a Thursday night. But in those three months of training I suffered a broken coxic and had a miscarriage which affected some weeks and we were also decorating so didn’t do anything for three weeks at the end of April beginning of May. 

4. How did you find it?
Hard, emotional and draining, but exciting too. 

5. What was the best part of it?
Feeling really proud of Jamie. It was also amazing seeing my family and friends supporting us and wearing Jamie's picture with pride showing him off. Also knowing we were helping raise awareness. 

6. What was the worst part of it?
Knowing why we were doing it. Also it was too hot that day. 

7. How did you feel afterwards?
Elated, shattered but what an unbelievable sense of achievement! I was proud of my family and friends and grateful for all the support we had. 

8. How did you fundraise the money and how much did you raise?
I used the Just Giving site to collect the money and explain why we were doing the run. But also to raise awareness of the run and the just giving site I emailed family and friends. I mentioned the run on Jamie's Gone Too Soon page and a friend of mine designed a flyer which we posted in some places. We raised over £5000. 

9. What would you say to someone considering doing it?
DO IT. It's hard work but the reason for doing it, the support and the atmosphere carries you through. It's a wonderful achievement. It raises much needed awareness of FSID too. 

10. Will you be doing it again next year?
Yes! It was such a shame that FSID didn’t have many runners. Other charities had a much greater presence. Because of this I am already collecting names for the run next year. I mentioned that we need to be bigger and brighter to get noticed. Over 300 babies die every year and if we could get over 300 runners  we would surely get noticed. I have already signed up for the notification of when you can sign up and once we can I will be campaigning to get more and more people involved. Raising money and awareness at such a big event would be fantastic. 


FSID would like to thank Pamela, Gary and all their friends and family for taking part in the Great Manchester Run and raising such a fantastic amount.


You too can run for FSID. Find out how to take part in next year's Great Manchester or another run from our series here.