One Year On: Kieran’s Remarkable Return to Running

Kieran is getting ready to lace up for both the Larking Gowen Ipswich Half Marathon and the Altra Yorkshire Marathon this year.

In 2023, he had a cycling accident which resulted in a CT scan. Unexpectedly, the scan found an AVM on his brain. An AVM is a tangle of abnormal blood vessels where blood passes directly from arteries to veins without capillaries in between. This means the blood can flow at higher pressure, creating a risk of the vessels rupturing and causing a brain bleed. At the end of 2024, Kieran underwent Gamma Knife treatment, and afterwards everything seemed to be going well. He completed two half marathons, including the Ipswich Half Marathon in 2025, and was achieving many PBs.

Then, while in Budapest a week after Ipswich Half, he noticed after a run that part of his right food had gone numb. It then stayed like that a week, and then he woke up after a nap and couldn’t feel his right arm. One sleep later, his right leg decided to join. He was then admitted to Ipswich Hospital on 14^th October 2025 and spent his 20^th birthday there, which Kieran said was not quite the celebration he had in mind.

He later found out the reason for his hospitalisation was some brain swelling following the gamma knife treatment. It had occurred in the area of his brain which is responsible for sensation and his sensory neurons. For a while, Kieran struggled to walk properly, hold objects, write, work, and most importantly run.

After a lot of help from his girlfriend Martha, his family, and his physio Vishnu, and everyone at Framlingham Flyers, Kieran has gradually built himself back up. Now, after nine months of training, he is now returning to the Larking Gowen Ipswich Half Marathon and also doing the Altra Yorkshire Marathon on the 18^th October, a year after he was discharged from hospital.

Kieran is running and raising money for the Butterly AVM Charity, which supports people affected by AVM’s, raises awareness and funds research to better understand why they occur. Kieran says he is looking forward to returning to the Ipswich Half Marathon this year and seeing how far he has come.