27/04/2026
This is a long one but it’s difficult to articulate everything we are feeling right now.
Chaz completed the TCS London Marathon 2026 yesterday in 4hr:19min after minimal training, a calf injury and in unprecedented heat. To say I’m in awe is an understatement.
His motivation was entirely about Oli and doing him justice. As you may know, I was supposed to be running yesterday but found out part way through training that I was pregnant. We thought that would be it and I’d do it in a couple of years but this is the first London Marathon place The Oliver Steeper Foundation has had so a mere 10 weeks ago, whilst I was feeling guilty and fretting, I tentatively asked Chaz if he’d consider running in my place. Of course he said yes because that’s who he is; he sees how much I care about the charity and he cares deeply about it too.
Something we’ve both said from the start is that this must be about Oli - “Every Step For Oliver” - and he said he wanted it to feel hard because “sauntering around London doesn’t feel right” after what the Steeper family has endured.
Watching his little dot on the TCS app flying through the course yesterday, we assumed he was covering each mile with ease but he was fighting a battle of body vs mind. With 10 miles to go his back seized up, something he hasn’t experienced before, and it was making it difficult for him to breathe. As the run became increasingly difficult he looked at Oli’s picture to remind him why he is pushing himself but the emotion this brought on caused more difficulty as he was unable to take the breaths he needed to run whilst being upset at the injustice of what happened to Oli. He has a mental tenacity I think is rare to find in a person and somehow pressed on through the remaining 10 miles without stopping, in pain and unable to take a proper breath, and then he crossed the finish line with his arms in the air, knowing he’d done what he set out to do in honour of Oli.
I am more proud of him than I have ever been of anyone. He stepped up to help me, to represent The Oliver Steeper Foundation at the greatest marathon in the world, and to run in memory of the most precious little boy.
After a big fundraising effort that has seen us raise over £5100 for this amazing local charity, Chaz finished it off in a way that we feel immensely proud of.
However, none of the fundraising would have even happened without YOUR support. Our family, our friends, our community, local businesses and perfect strangers… I cannot believe how supportive and generous you have been and we will never forget it or take it for granted. Thanks to you, The Oliver Steeper Foundation can now donate a further 64 LifeVac anti-choking devices to early years childcare settings, helping to prevent other families from ever experiencing the tragedy they did. This is no small feat and we are beyond grateful for your backing of us - thank you, endlessly!
And to Lewis and Zoe, thank you for trusting us with this absolute honour. It has been such a privilege to fundraise for your charity in memory of your beautiful son. We still can’t fathom the strength and determination you both exhibit on a daily basis and have so much respect and admiration for you and the battles you have fought to ensure that Oli’s passing has driven truly powerful, positive change in making childcare settings so much safer for our babies. You are very, very special people and we feel incredibly lucky to have had your support from day 1 in making an Every Step For Oliver profile picture to enthusiastically supporting every idea we’ve had, including Chaz running in my place, and being just as proud of him as I am! It goes without saying that this obviously isn’t the end (you’re stuck with us now) but we just want to thank you for taking a chance on us to support you. This was always much more than a marathon place for us and we hope we can continue to support the charity for a long time to come. You are doing wonderful things and it’s all testament to how loved and missed Oli is. What exceptional parents you are.
All our love, Billie and Chaz 🩵
If anyone would like to donate to this wonderful charity, the fundraiser can be found here -
https://www.justgiving.com/page/everystepforoliver
