Dad gears up for marathon challenge to raise awareness of mental illness (From Your Local Guardian)

Dad gears up for marathon challenge to raise awareness of mental illness

1:00pm Wednesday 25th August 2010 in

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A dad is preparing to take on a half marathon challenge for a charity close to his heart.

Father-of-two Paul Cornell, of Grimswood Road, Twickenham, will race 13.1 miles through London’s Royal Parks to raise funds for mental health charity Mind after having seen the effects of depression and other mental illness firsthand.

He said: “My mum through my upbringing had manic depression - there were spells going up and spells going down and it was an interesting journey through childhood. For me being close to it I always saw mental illness as being like any other illness and got frustrated by the stigma attached.”

The 37-year-old said he felt the charity made a real difference in helping to change people’s perceptions of mental health problems.

He said: “My wife Sam has [also] suffered from mental illness as people do throughout life - [but] her coping with it was made more difficult as she feels a personal stigma attached which stopped her from really being able to deal with it positively and move forward.

“It is so common that it is bizarre it is not more widely understood, accepted and positively treated - for me running for Mind is all about changing perceptions and stigmas.”

And the Guinness marketing manager is taking his training for the October 10 event seriously - clocking up three weekly runs with added longer training sessions at the weekend.

Even his children have got involved, with three-year-old son Joe keen to follow in his father’s footsteps.

To sponsor Mr Cornell visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/PAULCORNELL.

*This year’s Royal Parks half marathon coincides with World Mental Health day and Mind hopes 10 runners from each of London’s boroughs will sign up. If you would like to take part visit mind.org.uk/get_involved/fundrasing_events. The closing date for registration is Friday.