Abi’s Story
Well done to Abi, who raised over £850 by completing the Cardiff Marathon. We caught up with Abi about her inspiration for fundraising for CLAPA.
A close friend of mine had a baby girl last year, and she was told at one of her scans that the baby had a bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate and that she would need several surgeries while she was still so young.
Her daughter has had three surgeries so far and has just turned one. Seeing how tough she was and what the whole family went through really inspired me.
When my friend told me how much CLAPA had helped and how their funding had dropped over the pandemic, I saw an opportunity to help.
My fiance and his mum were also both born with clefts and to hear how much surgery has changed and how much can be done to help was incredible, so I decided to raise money for CLAPA by joining my fiance on the Cardiff Half Marathon.
I raised awareness in my workplaces, and so many people were so generous with their donations – I was blown away at how generous people were!
I aimed to raise £250 for CLAPA, and I raised over £850! The experience of the race was great! It was tough – probably the toughest physical challenge I’ve ever done (so far!), but the crowd support was amazing, and I was riding such a wave from the fundraising being so successful that it carried me through!
CLAPA is a brilliant charity to raise money for! My advice for anyone wishing to fundraise is to challenge yourself – you’ll be surprised at what you can do!
