A WAR widow from Thornbury who lost her husband in the line of duty is racing the London Marathon, fundraising for the Royal British Legion in his memory.

Rachel received the knock at the door no army wife wants 11 years ago, when two officers told her that husband John would not be coming home, having taken his own life on tour.

Living in Northern Ireland at the time, where the couple and their children, aged three and two, she said that over the following weeks, she struggled to come to terms with what happened to her family, with no one having prepared her for the worst and the amount of paperwork that follows at such a traumatic time.

Rachel, a 43-year-old administrator, said: “On top of dealing with your own feelings of grief and looking after two very small children, there were endless administration tasks to tackle that I had no idea how to even start.”

This was where the Legion came in. Through the Army welfare network, an RBL case officer visited her at home and took her through everything she had to do to keep the family financially buoyant, as well as offering much needed support as the family relocated to Rachel’s home town of Thornbury.

She said she was “totally indebted” for all the support she received and wanted to run the marathon to help raise awareness of the fantastic work the RBL do for families like hers.

She said: “Modern warfare has taken its toll on both our serving soldiers and veterans, and I also want my run to help to raise awareness of the growing problem of post-traumatic stress disorder. 

“The work that the RBL do with veterans and serving soldiers suffering from PTSD is amazing, and i can tell you first hand that it really does save lives. Sadly it was too late for John, but we can help other soldiers moving forward.”

As a fairly new runner, having started running to raise money for another Armed Forces charity by racing the Bristol 10k in 2016, Rachel said that the marathon on April 22 will be a “real personal, physical and mental challenge”.

“I realised at that point that I actually really enjoyed running, and set myself a challenge to run a half marathon, which I did in early 2017.

“That year I really caught the bug, joined Thornbury Running Club and ran a further six half marathons!”

The marathon seemed a perfect choice to celebrate the work that the Legion did for her, with the personal level of help that running has given her, helping to deal with her own mental health issues, easing stress, and has improved my health – having lost three stone since she started.

To support Rachel in her marathon effort, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rachel-murphy37.