A COUPLE who ran the Swindon Half Marathon to raise money to pay for a surrogate to carry a child for them have been blown away by the support they received.

Annabelle Harper, 31, had aggressive treatment for cervical cancer in 2012, which left her unable to become pregnant.

Undeterred from their dream of having a child, she and her partner James MacDonald, 29, who live in Ferndale, have been completing a range of feats to raise money since 2014.

They broke through their target of £2,000 in last weekend’s half marathon, and finished up raising nearly £2,500.

Annabelle, who finished in a personal best of 1hr 46s, spoke about her journey, which started when her oncologist suggested a regime of light exercise.

She said: “It is a difficult thing to draw positives from, but now, five years down the line, there’s so much positive to have come from it.

“I literally started out with 20 minutes of walking, one of jogging – both me and my partner are now training for marathons.

“We created a group called the Swindon Storks - we want this to go from strength to strength and we want to become an affiliated running club.”

As well as the half marathon, Annabelle, a store manager, and James, a senior fraud analyst, and their friends have completed a number of events to raise money – one friend is now planning a skydive.

The money will go towards helping find a surrogate for Annabelle and James’s child, a process which they have estimated could cost up to £15,000.

But with a large number of embryos frozen in preparation for the surrogate birth, the couple, who both grew up in Stratton St Margaret, remain optimistic about having a child together, hoping he or she could be born at the end of 2018.

Annabelle said: “We are fortunate that we have embryos, they are frozen, and we only need a host womb – we’re fortunate as we don’t need a donor.

“We are looking for someone who is comfortable, and fits the requirements of our fertility clinic.

“The sponsorship money will be used primarily for the transfer of the embryo and medical support.”

To donate to Annabelle and James's cause, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/annie-jamesmac