More heartache for Shrewsbury-born marathon man and wife
Shrewsbury-born marathon man Mark Vaz, who plans to do 90 runs in 90 days to raise money for a pregnancy charity, has suffered more heartache after his wife Tammy suffered her seventh miscarriage.
Mark, who will break the world record for the most marathons in consecutive days if he completes the challenge.
He said he and Tammy, a teacher at South Wolverhampton and Bilston Academy, were heartbroken after receiving the bad news last week.
The 31-year-old window cleaner, who plans to carry on with his day job during the challenge, said it made him all the more determined to press on with his fundraising effort.
This week he has received good luck messages from from Olympic gold medallist Sally Gunnell and television presenter Ross King.
Mark, who now lives in Penkridge, will begin his 90-days of running on July 7. He will be raising money for the Tommy's charity, which provides support for mothers-to-be during pregnancy, and for the Katharine House Hospice in Stafford.
He said: "It has made me all the more determined now, I have got to finish it, even if I break my leg."I know now that I will complete it, even if it means doing it with my leg in plaster."
Miss Gunnell, who won the 400m hurdles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, said: "Good luck to Mark Vaz who is about to run 90 marathons in 90 days for Tommy's and Katharine House Hospice.
Mr King, best known as the Hollywood correspondent for Good Morning Britain, added: "What an incredible thing to do. Wishing you all the best with it."
To underline his determination, he has promised to refund double his sponsors' money if he does not complete the 2,340-mile feat.
Mark said he had been inundated with messages of goodwill on his Facebook pages, including those who had been through similar traumas.
He has launched a petition calling for hospitals to show greater understanding of the trauma that people who suffer miscarriages go through.
He said the hospitals Tammy had been to had never offered any support, or put them in touch with groups who could help.
"This time the midwife was very calm, she told us the bad news and ushered us out into a private waiting room," said Mark.
"She did not know what to say and just gave us a leaflet.
"After just five minutes the midwife came back and said 'you need to go now and they will be in touch'. "To them you are just a number."
He added that many celebrities had suffered the anguish of a miscarriage, but did not wish to talk about it.
Mark added that he had now set up a text service where people could sponsor him by as little as £1 simply by texting the code MVAZ90 to the number 70070.
Alternatively, People can donate through the website www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/9090 or his Facebook page www.facebook.com/pages/90-marathons-in-90-days