Cardiff half marathon: Mum to run race for baby son

Twins Trystan and Macsen were born in 2021

A mother whose eight-week-old baby died from a heart condition is running the Cardiff half marathon in his memory.

Ruth Coleman, 37, gave birth to twins Macsen and Trystan in 2021, but Macsen died due to complications from Truncus Arteriosus.

The mum, from Merthyr Tydfil, will run in his memory on Sunday.

"I had twins and one of them was born with heart problems, really serious problems," she said.

"He had to have heart surgery when he was 12 days old. It was a horrible time for us as a family."

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Macsen came home from hospital to recover, but died suddenly.

"We still don't know why," Ruth said. "It doesn't happen often, but it happened to us."

Ruth says running has helped her mental health

She said she was left searching for an "outlet" to try to deal with her grief.

"I tried all kinds of things, out of desperation more than anything."

Ruth said running "has really helped with mental wellbeing".

Then she started raising money for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

"The target is £10,000 by the end of 2025, but it looks like we're going to hit the target a lot sooner," she said.

Ruth and husband Gavin took both twins home before Macsen's health declined

She will first run the children's race on Saturday with her six-year-old son, Tomos, and a group of his friends from Ysgol Santes Tudful.

"They are all practicing, all wearing red and ready for the challenge," she said.

She will be joined on the half marathon by about 20 friends.

"We feel that we can be useful even through a hard time, and it is still a hard time for us, but we want to make a difference.

"It's really emotional to do it because I know why I'm doing it."