Shannon, a 30-year-old kinship carer from Cwmbran, will run 150 kilometres in July 2025 to raise funds for the charity Kinship, honouring her mother who died from a brain aneurysm a decade ago. The mother-of-one plans to cover the distance along river paths in Cwmbran, completing almost one marathon per week.
Life-Changing Decision
Shannon and her husband Daniel made the decision last year to care for her niece and three nephews, aged 7, 8, 12, and 13, after social services contacted them. “We received a call from social services to say they would be placed in care unless we could take them in,” Shannon said. “We already had our three-year-old, so it’s been pretty challenging to say the least. We had nothing ready and had to make do with very little at first. We’ve been sleeping on the sofa bed so the children can have a bedroom.”
Impact on Work and Finances
Shannon, a lecturer in Swansea University’s cardiac physiology department, and Daniel took two weeks of compassionate leave to settle the children. However, with no paid leave for kinship carers, Daniel had to quit his job as an operations manager to stay home and care for the five children. “If either of us had been given a couple of months paid leave so that we could spend time getting into a good routine, perhaps my husband wouldn’t have had to quit his operations manager job, but one of us had to be at home with the children,” Shannon explained. She added that Swansea University has been supportive, offering flexible working strategies that allow her to keep her job and support the family.
The family also had to sell their home to buy a larger property, draining their savings. “It’s not what we planned for in life going from a family of three to a family of seven almost overnight, but we wouldn’t have it any other way,” Shannon said.
Fundraising for Kinship
Kinship supports friends and family raising more than 11,000 children in Wales when parents cannot care for them. Shannon decided to raise money after the charity helped her family. “I had wanted to do a charity run in memory of my mum who always put children’s welfare first and Kinship is a cause that’s close to our hearts and this gives me a way of also recognising the charity for the support they’ve given us,” she said. “It's so important for kinship carers to know where to turn to for support when they need it and to understand their rights. It's also essential for those in management positions to know that being flexible and supportive helps kinship families like ours stay together.”
Support from Kinship
Lisa Watch, director of policy and communications at Kinship, said: “Shannon is about to embark on an epic running challenge to raise vital funds for Kinship for which we are truly grateful. Amazing kinship carers like Shannon and Daniel step up often in times of crisis to keep the children they love within a stable, secure loving family, often sacrificing jobs and income in the process. We hope the wonderful people of Wales will join us in cheering Shannon on and donating to Kinship as she runs almost one marathon a week in memory of her beloved mum, who would be so very proud of her.”
Donations to Shannon’s 150km fundraising run for Kinship can be made via her JustGiving page.
Location: Cwmbran, Torfaen, Monmouthshire.
