A WOMAN whose mum died suddenly of an undiagnosed heart condition says running in her memory felt like "a way to say goodbye".
Gilly Cooper grew up in Parr with two sisters and was raised by their ‘anchor’ mum Margaret Taylor, who worked up to four jobs a day to provide for her children as a single mum.
She died suddenly of an unknown heart condition aged 71 on Friday, May 21, 2021, leaving her daughters devastated.
Mum-of-two Gilly, who has since built up a successful career in London after starting out working in NatWest Bank in St Helens, says she owes her perseverance and drive to her mum and stepdad Brian.
She said: “My mum was a pillar of strength in our lives and the anchor in our family. She worked tirelessly up to four jobs a day in order to provide for us all and encouraged us to work hard.
“She didn’t have money to send me to uni, so I worked at NatWest, then worked my way up and moved to London in 1987 and now I’m the Chief Personnel Officer at Cult DCS.
“That’s because of the hard work and perseverance Mum taught me. She was an amazing Nanna to my children and even when I asked her to move closer, she said St Helens had her heart.
“She worked everywhere from The Swan to the YMCA, she’d always get us to donate our old suits to people there to help them do well in interviews, cancer charities too after Brian got bowel cancer and worked at Brookfield as a carer and The Horseshoe pub, she did everything and all for us.”
Gilly, 53, ran the London Marathon in honour of her mum, after feeling she didn’t get a chance to say goodbye properly.
She added: “We thought she had a virus and couldn’t remember things; my sisters and Brian took her to the hospital, and they said she had a heart rate of 30 and a temperature.
“She went into cardiac arrest and went into surgery and when I found out I got in my car and drove in the worst weather ever to get to her, but when I arrived my sister had to tell me she had died.
“I live down south so I can’t visit her grave every day, I find it so hard without her.
“I run anyway, but I broke my ankle 18 months ago and thought well maybe with training I can run the London Marathon for cardiomyopathy, which is what they think mum died of.
“I followed my training plan to the letter for months and last week I ran it in four hours and 53 mins not stopping once.
“My sister came down and my husband and daughter joined her in cheering me on.
“I know Mum was with me, it was really emotional and it was my way of saying goodbye. She would have been made up. I know she was with me.”
Gilly has raised £3,000 so far for Cardiomyopathy UK.
To donate go to, 2023tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/gilly-cooper
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