Irvine dad running London Marathon to thank Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity
The charity looked after Martin McBreen's daughter Indy, after she was diagnosed aged just 2
Last updated 17 hours ago
An Irvine dad will take on the London Marathon in aid of the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, who looked after his daughter when she was diagnosed with leukaemia.
Martin McBreen’s daughter Indy was diagnosed when she was just 2 years old in 2023.
Today (Sunday), she will cheer her dad on from home as he tackles the 26.2-mile challenge.
So far, Martin has raised more than £1,900 of his £2,500 goal, part of which has been gathered by selling spots on his running playlist.
He told Greatest Hits Radio: “There’s a lot of random stuff on there, there’s a lot of stuff that I’m not looking forward to listening to, but it raised an extra couple hundred pounds, so every song that comes on will put a smile on my face, regardless of if it’s something stupid or something motivational.”
Indy, who is now 5, was in hospital for seven weeks at the start of her treatment, which Martin described as “ruthless”, however he added the work of the Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity was “magnificent”.
He said: “The work they do is priceless.
“Having the team there to be able to just take Indy’s mind off things, and just have something to play with or something to do.
“They’ve got a separate playroom there, which was invaluable at the time.
“Just letting her be able to go and do some drawing or painting or building or whatever just to take her mind of things, because it was, it was pretty ruthless for seven weeks, the initial induction treatment.”
Martin added: “Some things they provide that make a huge difference include installing fold-down beds in the ward, which allowed my wife Marion and I to be with her when she needed us most.”
Continuing, he said: “The Play Team are a fantastic resource who help keep kids entertained during long, boring days between treatments.”
Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity CEO Kirsten Watson said: “The London Marathon is a monumental challenge and we’re so grateful to supporters like Martin for undertaking it to raise vital funds for the charity.
“We’ll be cheering him on every step of the way.
“Every bit of support is crucial and goes towards helping the children and young patients being treated in Scotland’s busiest children’s hospital.”
Last year the London Marathon broke the Guiness World Record for the most finishers, with 56,640 participants making it to the end.
The 2025 race also raised a record £87.3 million for charity, bringing the cumulative total raised since the first race in 1981 to £1.4 billion.
Martin said: “Indy is my motivation for doing this.
"She’s been through so much over the last 2 and a half years and never complained about it.
"I felt that signing myself up for a huge challenge like this was the least I could do to give back to those who helped her.
"I just hope I can be half as strong and resilient as she’s been.”
He is fundraising through the London Marathon's official site.