Man's Great North Run challenge in honour of wife

When Rob returned home, he found Marlise, his wife, on the floor of their bathroom

A man will run the Great North Run in memory of his wife after she died at home from an undiagnosed heart condition.

Rob Crowley, from Shadoxhurst in Kent, had been away with friends for a weekend when he received a call from his wife's sister, who was concerned after she missed a work meeting.

When Rob returned home, he found Marlise, his wife, on the floor of their bathroom.

A postmortem concluded she had died due to a fatal arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm).

She also had an undiagnosed rare form of cardiomyopathy, which is a disease of the heart muscle.

Rob will be raising funds for the British Heart Foundation at next month's half marathon, which runs from Newcastle to South Shields.

He said: "It was the most terrible awful shock and completely ripped my life apart.

"It felt so impossible that she could be here and then just die.

"It was rare for us to spend weekends apart, so it felt particularly cruel."

The Great North Run is in Newcastle on Sunday, 7 September

Following Marlise's passing, Rob spent the first three months in the pub every evening as he tried "to numb the pain", but the turning point was a word from the landlady.

After this, he sought counselling and therapy, and joined a gym and returned to work.

A support group he joined included many people who were runners, which led to him signing up for the Great North Run.

He added: "I've done a lot of 10k events with them.

"Someone suggested the Great North Run and I thought that would be a great way of honouring Marlise and raising funds."