A UK woman completed the London Marathon wearing her wedding gown. This was Laura Coleman-Day’s 13th marathon this year. The woman from Lincolnshire, England, raised money to support a cancer charity and in the memory of her husband Xander.
Ms Coleman-Day’s husband Xander died in 2024 due to complications following a transplant he required after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare form of cancer that affects the bone marrow and blood, the BBC reported.
The 33-year-old completed the marathon alongside her Guernsey-based friend Kate Walford, who is also doing several marathons in memory of her best friend who died from leukaemia in 2018.
She described finishing the marathon on her wedding anniversary as “absolutely amazing” after running the final three miles wearing the dress.
On her sixth wedding anniversary, Ms Coleman-Day stopped running for a time in the 23rd mile of the 26.2-mile marathon to put on the wedding gown so she could wear it to the end of the marathon.
“I thought that going overboard with my wedding gown would be the ideal way to honour the day and Xander,” Ms Coleman-Day told BBC News.
“Kate and I are going to stop at mile 23 and put my wedding dress on,” she added, People reported.
She claimed it was “hot” to finish the race wearing the outfit, but she did it with Ms Walford. “It was absolutely amazing,” Ms Coleman-Day said.
Ms Coleman-Day married Xander, a Royal Air Force aerospace battle manager, in 2019. The two had a son, Amos, a few years later.
Mr Xander began complaining of aches and pains, and physicians diagnosed him with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) by 2022, she told local outlet Lincolnshire Live.
He was deemed cancer-free in December 2022 but had a relapse shortly after receiving treatment.
Despite his optimism, the cancer eventually claimed Mr Xander’s life in February 2024 at the age of 36. Their son was two years old at the time.
Ms Coleman-Day ran the London Marathon to raise money for Anthony Nolan, a charity which works in the fields of leukaemia and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.