A man from Sheffield has conquered an epic challenge after running almost eight marathons in four days after being inspired by the “smile and bravery” of a three-year-old boy battling leukaemia.
Lee Freeman successfully ran 200 miles around Rother Valley Country Park, South Yorkshire in just 80 hours – but it didn’t come without its challenges.
He was inspired to take on the mammoth run by the bravery, toughness and constant positive attitude of three-year-old Alfie Mitchell, who has Down’s Syndrome and is currently fighting Leukaemia.
Read more: Brave boy Alfie who is just three and smiles through chemo, leukaemia and Down’s Syndrome
And no matter what it threw at him, the 43-year-old life coach says he knew it was never going to be as tough a fight as what Alfie goes through everyday. “Despite everything that Alfie’s going through he’s got so much grit, so much resilience. He’s still smiling every single day in spite of chemo, leukaemia and down’s syndrome,” Lee said.
“People warned me beforehand how tough the challenge is going to be, but the pain I could go through completing the challenge is nothing compared to what Alfie goes through every day and yet he still does it with a smile on his face.”
Lee, from Sheffield, set off on the fundraiser to raise money for Footprints charity – a conductive education centre which Alfie has attended – at 6am last Wednesday (May 29).
“It was certainly tough and hard to keep going, but everything was relatively plain sailing for the first three days,” Lee explained. “My goal was to run far enough that I only had 20 miles to finish off running on Saturday morning.”
(Image: Chris Mitchell)
But at around 11.30pm on Friday night (May 31), disaster struck. With 30 miles of the challenge left to run, Lee fell asleep standing up, before being hit by unbearable pain. Lee was advised by a member of his support team, Doctor Paul, to get some rest. He headed back to the support vehicle for a nap – but the pain showed no signs of improvement.
“I remember writhing around in the bed in agony, and I felt quite delirious,” Lee recalls. “At first Paul thought I was having a nightmare, but then the pain became so bad that he thought I might be having a heart attack.”
Lee explained that he had previously broken his neck in 2012 and had to have two discs, C4 and C5, replaced with a metal cage. He soon realised that running such a distance had caused the injury to flare up: “The whole right side of my body, including my arm, had gone numb because of the stress I’d put on those two discs that control the movement and feeling there. We all went into panic stations.”
Miraculously, Lee managed to pull through and began walking some of the remaining distance, but with his Achilles also in pain, he didn’t know if he was going to be able to run again at all. He said: “I got down to 26 miles and I reached a point where I thought it was going to be impossible – I didn’t know how I was going to get through it with the amount of pain that I was in.
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“But there was no way that I was going to quit. Because I couldn’t run I was only able to cover two to three miles per hour – it was looking like a very long road to get to the end, even though everything else had been on track up until that point.”
And even though it felt impossible, Lee reminded himself of Alfie’s smile and bravery – and that helped to spur him on. “One of the team said they could see how much I was struggling and I was – but I knew that no matter how much I was struggling, it was nothing compared to what Alfie is going through being three years old and going through chemotherapy.
“I knew I had to keep moving no matter what happened and that I had the fight in me. It’s true when they say that you don’t know how much fight you have in you until something happens. Look at Alfie – he has no choice but to get up and fight everyday.”
(Image: Edward Harber)
Lee also didn’t want to let down his own son, 5-year-old Logan: “I thought to myself – ‘do you really want to go back and tell your son that you quit because it got too much, or tell Chris and Alfie that I gave up because I was in too much pain?’ – I knew I couldn’t do that to them and that’s what got through.”
With the assistance of his team, Lee powered on and through a combination of running and walking – managed to complete the remaining 26 miles of the challenge.
He said: “Something happened – I don’t know what it was. We completed the last marathon in under six hours in the end. Even to this day, I don’t know how it happened or where that strength came from.”
Lee made it over the finish line just before 2pm on Saturday, June 1, where he was met by his own 5-year-old son Logan and Alfie’s dad, Chris Mitchell.
Lee said: “Logan ran out to me for the last 200m which was really amazing and to have both him and Chris at the finish line was incredible. I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet that I’ve done it.”
Chris, 39, who received the “devastating” news that Alfie had leukaemia in November 2023, said: “I can’t believe Lee managed to run that distance in the time that he’s done it, it’s amazing. He’s raised such a significant amount of Footprints. They need around £200,000 a year to operate, so the money that Lee has raised will be hugely important for them.
Lee has surpassed his initial fundraising goal of £5,000 – which is enough money to pay for a child to attend Footprints for a whole year – but he is pushing to try and reach the next goal of £10,000. So far, almost £6,000 has been raised.
Chris was accompanied by his wife Rachel and their five-year-old son Teddy to see Lee complete the challenge. Sadly, Alfie could not join them as he is still in hospital – but the family hopes that he will be back home with them this weekend.
Chris continued: “The message that Lee is putting out is inspirational – that you’ve got to keep going through the challenges you are facing. Alfie inspires me to do that and that’s what we’re doing as a family. Lee is also shouting about that through his challenges. It’s remarkable what he’s done.”
Lee has been in and out of hospital in severe pain since completing the challenge. “My legs are fully recovered – I could run a double ultra today if I wanted to – but I have no feeling in my right arm whatsoever. It’s as if I’ve had a local anaesthetic,” he explained.
Consultants have told Lee that the amount of miles he covered will have caused a lot of trauma, stress and inflammation to build up in his body – particularly in the area where he once broke his neck – and suspect that he will regain feeling once the inflammation and trauma settles down.
He added: “They told me that I’ve come off pretty lightly really – one of the consultants said it’s hilarious that I expected to run 200 miles in four days on no sleep and not expect part of my body to malfunction, which says a lot about my mindset. Really, I should have been more prepared that there might be a bit more of an aftermath.
“But it’s an incredible feeling to know that we achieved what we set out to do – it was Alfie and Logan that got me through it all.” To find out more about Lee’s fundraising and to donate, click here. For further information about Footprints and the work they do, click here.
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