London’s Calling for Wishaw Man as he Aims to Raise Money for Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland to Honour His Family

Commercial manager Steven Forsyth said his family has suffered “more than most” when it comes to strokes.

He only has a few fleeting memories of his great grandfather. Steven was told he was a typical, strong alpha male, however the Wishaw man only remembers him lying paralysed in a hospital bed after suffering a stroke.

A decade later, his grandfather had a series of massive strokes which changed his life “significantly”.

And in 2021 his father-in-law Hugh McLaughlin was left paralysed after a stroke.

Steven said: “I met my wife 24 years ago and my father-in-law, if you could get the perfect father-in-law, he’s it.

“He was probably my best friend. I’d go to the football with him, watch the football with him, go out running together and we’d talk about running.

“Three years ago during lockdown he went into a cupboard and it felt like he never came back out. He had a massive stroke and was taken to hospital.

“The doctor gave my wife the option of thrombolysis and they said it could kill him but that it could give him a better chance of recovery. Sadly, the recovery never came so he’s completely paralysed down the left side of his body. He can’t get out his bed, can’t move, he’s slow in thinking and it’s hard seeing this man who I’d go and talk to for hours on end and it’s all gone.

“I’ll go and watch the football with him but he can’t retain what’s going on. It’s basically like he’s not the same guy.”

It was those experiences, as well as meeting a friend who ran the London Marathon last year, that pushed the 48-year-old into applying for the race in April.

He said: “I was in London last year and I met a friend who had just run it and brought her medal and shirt and she was so proud. I thought: “I’ve got this in me, I can do it.”

“But I didn’t want to just do it for myself as a vanity project I thought I could do it for something.

“The charity means something to me. Anything I can do, even if it’s a tiny bit that supports survivors or the fight against stroke then I’ll do my bit.

“I wanted to pick something that meant something to me and my family.”

The preparation might be gruelling but Steven will have the perfect motivation when the pain kicks in on the 26.2 mile race.

He said: “I’m struggling with the training but at the front of my mind in training, no matter how much pain I’m going through, it’s absolutely nothing compared to what my father-in-law is experiencing.

“I know you need to go through a pain barrier in a marathon and my pain will be nothing compared to what he deals with day in, day out.”

Louise MacLeod, Community, Events and Corporate Fundraiser for Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland said: “We wish Steven the very best ahead of his very challenging fundraiser.

“His story is very powerful and a great example of the determination we see from hundreds of fundraisers every year.

“The money raised will help us to support the 1 in 5 people across the country who are living with chest, heart and stroke conditions and Long Covid to live their lives to the full.”