Inspire 2026 - Clare
“Seren won’t be there to watch me cross the finish line this time, but she’ll be the reason I reach it.”
A mother whose four-year-old daughter died from a rare and aggressive brain tumour just weeks ago will take on the Oysho Royal Parks Half Marathon on Sunday 11th October 2026 in her memory.
Clare Grimley, from Bournemouth will run the 13.1-mile race just months after Seren’s devastating diagnosis and only weeks after her death, saying: “She won’t be there to watch me cross the finish line this time, but she’ll be the reason I reach it.”
Clare is running as an Inspire Runner for the Oysho Royal Parks Half Marathon, raising funds through her Stars for Seren campaign for Brain Tumour Research, Meredith’s Mission and Julia’s House Children’s Hospice, three charities which supported her family throughout Seren’s illness.
Seren was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain tumour in July 2025, aged just three. She spent six weeks in Southampton Hospital and underwent a 12-hour operation to remove the tumour. Following surgery, she had to relearn how to eat, drink, talk and walk before travelling to University College London Hospital for proton beam therapy.
There, she became the 1,000th NHS patient to receive the pioneering treatment, undergoing 33 sessions over seven weeks, each requiring a general anaesthetic. Despite everything she faced, Clare remembers her daughter as a bright, funny and incredibly sociable little girl who approached each challenge with courage and her trademark smile.
“Seren was one of the brightest lights we have ever known, and she always made everyone smile,” said Clare. “She was such a character. She had the biggest, brightest smile and was a funny, charismatic little girl who absolutely adored her little sister Cerys.”
“She loved Disney princesses, going to the theatre, the beach, unicorns, art, crafting and singing. Her favourite artist was Elton John, and whenever she went into hospital, she would request Crocodile Rock from the jukebox.”
In May 2026, shortly after Seren’s fourth birthday, a routine monitoring MRI revealed that her tumour had returned aggressively and spread, following a period in remission after her surgery and proton beam therapy. Doctors told the family there were no further treatment options, and they spent their final weeks together at Julia’s House Children’s Hospice before Seren very sadly died on 22nd July 2026, aged four.
For Clare, one of the memories that best captures her daughter’s extraordinary resilience is watching her take her first steps again after brain surgery.
“After everything she had been through, the 12-hour operation, being ventilated on PICU with a collapsed lung and the nerve damage that affected the right side of her face, seeing her stand and walk again was extraordinary. She just kept going. That was Seren.”
Running has been a constant for Clare throughout the most difficult year of her life. While Seren was receiving treatment at UCLH, Clare would run in Regent’s Park with her two daughters in a double buggy. Running became a rare opportunity to process everything she was experiencing while continuing to care for Seren and her baby sister, Cerys, who was just six months old when Seren was diagnosed.
“When everything felt overwhelming, putting my trainers on and getting outside gave me somewhere to put the emotions I didn’t know what to do with,” Clare said. “There have been runs where I’ve cried, runs where I’ve been angry and runs where I’ve simply put one foot in front of the other.”
Through her Stars for Seren campaign, Clare hopes to turn her grief into something positive by raising funds for the charities that supported her family and helping to fund research that could improve outcomes for children diagnosed with brain tumours in the future.
“Science and research are what prolonged her life and research will one day find a cure. Brain cancer has the worst prognosis of all cancers. It kills more under 40 than any other cancer and receives less than 1% of all cancer research funding. It costs £2,750 to fund a day of research at one of the centres of excellence and my aim is to fund as many days as possible.”
She describes Brain Tumour Research as particularly important because research helped prolong Seren’s life, while Meredith’s Mission provided vital support to the whole family during her treatment. Julia’s House provided a home from home for the family during Seren’s final days and continues to support Clare through bereavement.
“I want people to know Seren’s story,” said Clare. “I want her life to make a difference, even though it was far too short. I would want people to remember that Seren was so much more than her diagnosis. She was funny, charismatic, incredibly sociable and full of life.”
“She was just three when she was diagnosed, and somehow, she took everything in her stride. She never refused treatment or asked to go home. She just got on with it, smiling through things that no child should ever have to experience. Even the day before she died, she was in the garden at Julia’s House making potions in the mud kitchen. That’s how I want people to remember Seren, not as a little girl who died from a brain tumour, but as a little girl who lived her life with extraordinary joy, courage and love.”
On race day, Clare plans to wear pink, Seren’s favourite colour, and carry her daughter with her through every mile.
“Running the Oysho Royal Parks Half Marathon will be one of the hardest things I have ever done, but it will also be one of the most meaningful.” said Clare.
“There will be 13.1 miles where I will desperately wish she was still here, but I want to turn that heartbreak into something positive in her memory. Seren won’t be there to watch me cross the finish line this time, but she’ll be the reason I reach it.”
To support Clare’s Stars for Seren campaign, please visit her fundraising page:
