'I woke up in hospital': Leeds men who bonded over epilepsy experiences to take on half-marathon

The next thing he remembers is waking up in a Beijing hospital and being told he’d had a sudden seizure.

“I don’t even remember what happened,” the 27-year-old told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

“When I came around from it all, it was a bit crazy. I just felt weird, I didn’t feel myself.”

Four months later, Ciaran experienced a series of more seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy. The diagnosis has had a huge impact on his life, and he’s preparing to run a half-marathon this weekend to raise awareness about the condition.

He’s taking on the challenge with Will Chadwick, 24, to encourage more conversations around epilepsy and to support the charity Epilepsy Action.

Epilepsy is a neurological condition which causes recurring seizures and affects approximately 630,000 people in the UK.

Will discovered he had the condition at 13 years old. For the past 11 years, he has regularly experienced convulsive, vacant, and non-epileptic seizures.

Will said: “On your worst days, you can’t get out of bed, but day-to-day you can be up and doing what every normal person can do.”

Inspired by watching running videos online, Ciaran decided to create Monaghan’s Miles last November, an online video series where he runs with strangers while discussing their life stories.

By chance, Will discovered these videos and reached out to Ciaran to join him on a run.

Will said: “It was just a coincidence that I stumbled across his page and I liked the idea of what he was doing.

“From the minute we met it was like looking in a mirror with the similarities.

“We hit the ground running, literally,” he joked.

Ciaran and Will found they could relate to each other over things that are often difficult for others to understand. They quickly became friends.

A few weeks after they met, Will suggested the pair take on a challenge a bit more extreme than their first 5km run: the Temple Newsam Winter Warmer Half Marathon.

Alongside a team of fellow runners, Ciaran and Will will take on the uneven and muddy 13.1 mile route on Saturday (February 21) to support Epilepsy Action, which supports people living with epilepsy.

As young men, Ciaran and Will have found that epilepsy has transformed what they thought life in their twenties would be like. It’s a condition that has physical effects, including exhaustion and forgetfulness.

But it can also have an impact on mental health, including anxiety over when the next seizure will happen and depressive symptoms caused by medication.

Ciaran and Will have found that running has had a positive effect on their overall health. That’s why they have made the commitment to run the half-marathon together, and also co-run the Monaghan Miles weekly run club.

Every Sunday at 11am, people across the Leeds community are invited to join them for a 5km run starting at Tetley Brewery.

As each warm-up begins with the question “how has your week been?”, it’s a space where people are encouraged to open up about their feelings.

Ciaran and Will hope the club will create space for difficult conversations and help strangers find community. The run group is open to any ability, age, and gender, and the pair hope that it encourages people to feel comfortable talking about how they feel.

Will said: “I wasn’t a big talker about my feelings, I bottled everything up and I was very angry about my epilepsy. But when I met Ciaran and spoke to him, I got out of my comfort zone.

“I think you need to have that positivity no matter what’s going on. To speak about it with peers that are similar-minded is the best thing.”

Ciaran added: “I honestly believe that vulnerability is key and it’s the start of loving yourself.

“When you open up about your emotions or how you’re feeling, life gets easier and you’ve already tackled your first step.”

To support Ciaran and Will’s fundraising challenge for Epilepsy Action, visit their JustGiving page.