London marathon won’t be a Teddy Bear’s Picnic for Tyrone runner Susan O'Neill

However, this will be no Teddy Bears Picnic as London is expecting to host 50,000 runners and the weather forecast is already suggesting temperatures reaching the high teens - toasty if you're inside a bear suit and covering 26.2 miles!

The Dungannon woman recently had a dress rehearsal in Dungannon Park at the Park run. If anyone was in Dungannon Park they would have been graced with the presence of a running Teddy Bear, a crocodile in crocs, a spider man and a few youths joined in and ran with their own teddy bears! A special thank you to all the volunteers at Parkrun who make it happen each week! Susan is running in a Teddy Bear suit for a very special reason.

In 2017, shortly after her first trip to the London Marathon, her friend, Laura Kelly, who was with her in London at 20 weeks pregnant, gave birth to her son Cormac at 23 weeks.

When Laura originally began to feel contractions they were dismissed as Braxton Hicks, but after there were more signs of labour, Laura called for an ambulance and Cormac was born in hospital on May 14 2017.

Cormac was immediately taken to NICU but despite the best efforts of all involved, Cormac passed away in Laura's arms after a week of fighting on May 21.

Through a bereavement group, Laura came into contact with Aching Arms, a bereavement charity that brings comfort to bereaved parents by sending them a teddy to hold.

These very special Teddys are given in memory of another precious baby's life, as a gift with love from one bereft family to another.

Aching Arms provide support to families and training to Midwives and work places. When Laura decided it was time to donate bears in Cormac's memory she was contacted by Aching Arms as they had no volunteers in Northern Ireland.

Laura then became involved in the charity’s work and now, along with Aching Arms and the help of more volunteers, Aching Arms is now available in every Trust in Northern Ireland.

There is no cost to bereaved parents to receive a bear or to use the facilities available from Aching Arms - everything is supported through sponsorship.

This is where Susan became involved. During the 2020 lockdowns charities suffered greatly, but when the London Marathon went Virtual they reached out to runners that wanted the opportunity to run the first ever 'London Virtual Marathon', but they only had four weeks to prepare and fundraise.

Susan took on the challenge, and to try raise the profile of the fundraising, she ran the 26.2 miles in a Teddy Bear suit around the Eoghan Ruadh Hurling pitches! Following this, she had promised to all who donated that she would try to get a Good For Age time to qualify for the London Marathon to bring the Teddybear to the real streets of London - which she did in Manchester 2022. Susan, thankfully, has completed a practice run under real marathon conditions at the Belfast Marathon.

If you would like to find out more about her challenge or Laura's story, information is available on the Facebook page "Cormac's Bear" or at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/marathonteddy