Researcher to tackle Marathon for life-saving Imperial initiative

Dr Mike French, Senior Programme Manager at the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative

Imperial researcher Dr Mike French will run the 2016 London Marathon to help the College treat thousands of children with parasite-borne illnesses.

Mike will tackle the gruelling 26.2 mile route in April this year in the hope of raising more than £26,000 for the College’s Schistosomiasis Control initiative (SCI).  

The SCI works to improve the health and development of some of the world’s poorest populations by eliminating schistosomiasis and intestinal worms. The infections are caused by parasites which enter the body through contaminated water in areas of poor sanitation. Left untreated, the infections can lead to the development of life-threatening conditions such as bladder cancer, and liver damage.

Mike said: “These infections have a profound impact upon the communities they affect. The long term effects of an untreated infection can be life threatening, but in the shorter term infection can leave children too unwell to go to school. This obviously has a huge effect on their learning and their future wage earning potential.”

To date, the SCI has treated over 140 million children

“Because it is spread by shared water supplies or soil, schistosomiasis can mire entire communities in poverty and ill-health. We aim to change that.”

The SCI assists ministries of health in affected countries to help them design and implement large-scale control programmes – distributing drugs donated by the pharmaceutical industry to affected areas to reduce infection rates. To date, the SCI has facilitated delivery of over 140 million treatments to children and at-risk adults.

Mike’s focus is on rolling out control programmes in Yemen and Ethiopia, where he is based.

"Never again"

Mike said: “Running the Marathon felt like a wonderful way to highlight the work that the SCI is doing to tackle this and encourage people to support us. My fundraising target is £26,200 – £1,000 for each mile of the race, which will provide more than 70,000 treatments.”

Mike is back training following his recovery from typhus

It’s not the first time Mike has taken part in the Marathon. He took up the challenge for the first time in 2003. He said: “At the time, I swore I’d never do it again. But as time passed, it started to feel like a good idea again”.

“When I ran the marathon in 2003 I completed it in 3h43, so it would be nice to beat that. But my main target with the race is not to become a laughing stock.”

It hasn’t all been plain sailing for Mike. He’s currently recovering from Typhus, a serious illness he contracted in Ethiopia which causes flu-like symptoms, confusion and severe muscle pain.

“It threw a bit of a spanner in the works. I’m following a 16 weeks training plan to prepare for the race, but for the first three weeks I couldn’t do any running at all. I’ve still got a bit of dizziness and disorientation which presents challenges during training. I’m fine as long as I don’t look left or right while I’m running. That’s ok on a treadmill, but less so when I have to dodge donkeys and cattle on the Ethiopian roads.”

“On the plus side, Ethiopia is more than 2,000 metres above sea level so training at that altitude is wonderful. Whenever I come back to London and go for a run, I can really feel the positive effects – it feels like you could eat the air with a spoon.”

To sponsor Mike, visit his fundraising page. You can follow his training progress via his blog.