While most people taking part in the London Marathon begin training about four months before the event, Richard Few began his preparations last summer. The 40-year-old sales training business owner has had to build his endurance up much more gradually than most, because when he joins thousands of runners making their way around the 26.2-mile course on April 21, he will be doing it with just one lung.
Richard had always been fit and well until his right lung suddenly collapsed without warning. “It was Valentine’s Day 2008 and my fiancée Lucy and I were busy planning our wedding for July that summer,” he recalls.
“I had been feeling tight-chested and initially assumed I had an infection, but eventually Lucy forced me to take myself to A&E.
“There, I was given an X-ray and couldn’t believe it when the doctors told me it showed that my lung had collapsed. I didn’t even think that was possible without an injury or illness,” admits Richard, who lives in Clitheroe, Lancashire, with Lucy, now 42, and their son Ellis, 11.
At the time, Richard was just 24. “Doctors had no idea what triggered it, but it was the first of many collapses over the following three months, which resulted in aspirations, drains and, eventually, two lots of surgery at Harefield Hospital in Hillingdon.
“There, doctors ultimately removed most of my right lung in an attempt to prevent it leaking air into my chest cavity.”
It was an experience that would change Richard forever. “When I left hospital after the surgery, I was acutely aware it would impact my life,” he says. “It was a wake-up call really as I had met a lot of very poorly people in the specialist heart and lung unit. I realised good lung health was something we should never take for granted.”
Beforehand, Richard had been very sporty, playing football and golf regularly. “My initial urge was to wrap myself up in cotton wool and stop playing sport and take things easy, but I met so many people on the ward who were in a much worse position than me, who were never going to get better and who couldn’t do anything. They gave me the strength to get myself fit again and into shape.”
That’s not to say living with just one lung hasn’t impacted Richard. “My specialist told me that I’d find sport harder, that I would never be as fit as I was before having the lung removed and that my ability to do endurance-type sports would decline and probably get worse as I got older. But I refused to let it stop me from being active,” says Richard, who took up rugby eight months after his surgery.
“I was warned I would hit the wall sooner than other players and have to start training much earlier in the season to keep up, but I wanted to get the best out of my remaining lung and was still playing at the end of last season.”
Staying so active has meant running his first marathon in his forties was a possibility. “I double checked with my doctor that it was going to be safe for me to take part, and he said I could go for it, so I started training last summer,” says Richard.
Building up his remaining lung’s ability to function has been essential to his preparation. “I get out of breath more easily when running,” he explains.
“I began by running just a few miles a week. It has been tough but I’ve already done the 20-mile test run, which was brutal. I’d never run further than 10km before I began so it has been exciting to see how far I can push myself.
“I still struggle sometimes, but my body has learned to make up for the loss of a lung. I still get conscious of my breathlessness and I get out of breath quickly, even when running at a slow pace, and can’t always hold a conversation when others could.
“My heart rate is more elevated at the beginning of exercise too as my heart is having to work harder to give my body enough oxygen, but I am determined to get to that finish line. I want to show Ellis you don’t have to let adversity hold you back in life.”
Richard is running on behalf of Asthma + Lung UK, to help raise awareness of lung conditions and the importance of lung health. To sponsor his marathon attempt, go to justgiving.com/page/onelungmarathon
