The Ashton Family is running the Great (and mini) North Run for TeamStroke

Our Story

Our family are taking part in the Great North Run to celebrate how far we’ve come, and how far we’re still going to go.

Our son Reef was born just over three years ago in very difficult circumstances. He was a little early, drastically underweight, and started life in an incubator with Raphaelle also very unwell under hospital care. 

Both showed themselves to be incredible fighters, with Reef the most tiny but determined little thing we’ve ever seen. He surprised everyone by being ready to be discharged from hospital within just a couple of weeks, and we returned home to start both our new life as a family and a new job for Barney. 

Four weeks into that job Barney had a stroke while working at his desk on a Monday morning (which if you’re going to have one, that’s probably the time and place for it). 

Barney was left quite damaged, and told to expect an end to his surfing days and his new career. Particularly as it had hit a part of the brain vital to those things. 

This just wasn’t an option, and despite many continual failures and setbacks Barney fought to overcome the challenges, ultimately returning to work and relearning how to surf. 

All the while Raphaelle was making a phenomenal recovery of her own, rebuilding her strength and fitness to return to surfing better than ever. And Reef has been nothing short of inspirational, a little ball of determination from day one. 

Barney tried an assortment of training while rebuilding himself, and started to get an unexpected taste for running last autumn. Raphaelle is a Great North Run veteran, so entering as a family this year seemed a perfect way to celebrate the fact we’re all still here and able to take on the challenge. 

We want to raise some money for the Stroke Association in the hope it’ll help someone else going through some of the things we have.

Great North Run

We are taking part in the Great North Run 2025 as part of #TeamStroke

We have joined #TeamStroke for the Great North Run 2025.

There are over 1.3 million stroke survivors in the UK, with 100,000 strokes happening in the UK each year. That's one stroke every five minutes.

We're here to support people to rebuild their lives after stroke. We believe everyone deserves to live the best life they can after stroke, so we work with the stroke community to make sure people affected by stroke get the very best care and support. We rely on your support to provide vital services, campaign for better stroke care and fund research into preventative and rehabilitative treatments.