Perth couple Alan and Ruth Glynn have marked the 11th anniversary since their little daughter Alexis died from meningitis with an ambitious running challenge.
Alexis caught meningitis and passed away in February 2011 when she was only 19 months old.
Her family, living in Craigie, set up Team Alexis Rose to bring in money for national charity Meningitis Now and began spreading awareness of the symptoms so other parents could be spared the terrible loss.
“Alexis Rose, our beautiful baby daughter, was 19 months-old when she died very suddenly of meningitis,” Alan (42) explained at the time.
“She had bags of personality and was by nature a fighter – born nearly three months early and weighing 2lb 12 ounces, she spent a while in hospital alongside her twin sister but quickly grew in strength.
“She was always laughing and making us laugh, we will never forget her toothy smile and the way she would look over to make sure people were watching before she did something naughty.
“She was so happy and healthy and we never dreamed that anything could ever take her away from us, but meningitis ended her life within hours.
“We decided to continue Alexis’s fight and refuse to let meningitis beat us, by raising money and awareness of this disease for Meningitis Now.”
On February 5, 2022, marking the beginning of a second decade without precious Alexis, Alan and Ruth plus daughters Christina(12) and Amber (9) embarked on the 19 Alexis Rose Challenge (ARC) to continue to remember.
The challenge consists of the Glynns plus a group of loyal friends working as a team, committing to do 19 5k runs or walks (or equivalent) each month lasting 12 months.
The team challenge is all being recorded via a fitness app with regular updates posted online.
Participants have the option to walk or run to ensure this challenge is inclusive to all.
“So 19 ARC is a 12-month challenge which will include group events and raising awareness about meningitis as we exercise,” Alan explained.
He and Ruth opened a charity fundraising page - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/19arc - and so far £155 has been raised but Alan’s hoping the public will help him raise lots more.
“We’ve just done a 5k event at Stirling University Campus. Emma Kelly, Gary and Ann Ward, Eve Thompson, Ainsley Scullion, Isla Henry, Elinor Coombs and myself were there for the race on April 13. We totally smashed it!” said Alan.
Looking forward to May, Team Alexis have runners entered for the Leeds Half Marathon on May 8.
Running with Alan in Leeds will be Alison Hobson, Leta McEwan and Nikki Young. Then on August 28 a team wearing the rose logo – Chris Murray, Kirsteen Chan, Lana Macdougall, Alan Glynn and Peter Hutchison – will take on the West Highland Way. There’s a big push for Alan on October 2 when he and Paula Warrender take on the Loch Ness 10k.
The fund-raising family met up with the main sponsors of team Alexis Rose recently, Glen Fettes and Lee Kerr, who have the award-winning F&K Hair Lounge in Perth.
