Freyja Sendall

A Berkshire woman will lace up her late mum’s trainers to run the London Marathon in an emotional tribute after losing her suddenly to a brain injury.

Freyja Sendall, from Streatley near Reading, will take on the iconic 26.2 mile course on April 26 wearing mum Maxine’s trainers as she runs both in her memory and also to raise funds for Headway – the brain injury association, a UK-wide charity that works to improve life after brain injury.

Mum-of-three Max collapsed at home following a subarachnoid brain haemorrhage two years ago. After three days in hospital, she sadly passed away, aged 56, on 14 January 2024 - Freyja’s 24th birthday.

Freyja, now 26, was on holiday in Sherwood Forest when she got a concerned call from her dad, who said her mum had phoned saying she couldn’t collect Freyja’s autistic sister from care that day due to a ‘horrendous headache’.

Mum-of-two Freyja said: “I called her and she was visceral screaming on the phone. It was awful; she was in so much pain.

“I was in such a panic because I wasn’t there and mum was home alone.

“I just remember telling her to stay awake.”

Paramedics rushed Max to hospital, where she was transferred to intensive care in Bristol and underwent surgery to stop the bleeding in her brain.

Before making her way to Bristol with her partner and their nine-month-old baby, Freyja received a devastating phone call to say her mum’s pupils had stopped reacting to light and doctors didn’t think she would recover.

Freyja said: “My family then travelled from various parts of the country to say goodbye to her.

“I was holding her hand and talking about all the mad things we’d done with her. The last thing I did was give her a kiss on the head, and about 10 seconds later a nurse came through and said, ‘she’s gone, she went a few seconds ago’.

“A week after my mum died, I found out I was pregnant with my second baby.

“I think that pregnancy saved me. I feel like my younger daughter was sent by my mum.”

Running was a ‘huge part’ of Max’s life, with Freyja saying she was ‘happiest out on trails and ultramarathons’. Max had even secured a ballot place for the London Marathon in 2022 but had to defer due to an injury and later moving house.

Now Freyja will quite literally follow in her mum’s footsteps by running the marathon in Max’s own shoes, as a tribute to the fun-loving, outdoorsy woman who made her daughters’ childhood ‘magical’.

Freyja said: “My mum bought a brand-new pair of trainers to run the marathon in, but the trainers never made it out of the box.

“When we were sorting through mum’s belongings after she died, we found the trainers still sitting there, unworn.

“Miraculously they fit me even though I was a size above mum. When I tried them on it was a bit of a Cinderella moment- ‘the shoe fits!’

“So for the 2026 London Marathon, I’ll be running the entire course in mum’s trainers, finally getting them around the route she never had the chance to run.”

Freyja was keen to raise money for Headway UK after learning of the charity through a family friend, who had been supported by the charity following a stroke.

“I realised if my mum had survived, she would have needed support from Headway UK, like my family friend needed Headway,” said Freyja.

“I want to directly help those who do survive in my mum’s memory.”

On the day of the marathon, Freyja is also hoping to meet up with ultrarunner and Headway UK Ambassador Sam King, who raised over £86,000 last year when he ran 80 ultramarathons in 80 days in honour of his mum Penny who sustained a brain injury in January 2025.

Eden Harlow, Fundraising Coordinator at Headway UK, said: “We’re so grateful to Freyja for bravely opening up about the impact of losing a loved one to brain injury and for choosing to take on the London Marathon in support of Headway UK.

If you want to support Freyja, you can donate directly to her fundraiser here.