Reflex Express’s Viv Defies Asthma to Train

01/04/2009

When she was diagnosed with asthma at the age of 37 keen runner Viv Gray gave up her favourite past time and stopped indulging in exercise.

Viv, who is the General Manager at Reflex Express’s Okehampton Depot, has always enjoyed running to keep fit. Over the years she has been a member of her local running club and has completed a number of half marathons.

But one day while out with fellow running club members she suddenly found herself unable to breathe and collapsed. Her symptoms were recognised by a fellow runner who lent Viv her inhaler. The medical tests that followed confirmed she was suffering with exercise-induced asthma, a relatively new diagnosis at the time.

Now, after almost three years of little or no exercise Viv has decided she has had enough and is in training for the Flora London Marathon in April, to raise at least £2,000 for the CHASE hospice care for Children, a charity which runs Christopher’s hospice, near Guildford, Surrey.

Viv, now aged 40, who lives in Newton Abbott with husband Del, opted to support CHASE as it was Reflex Express’s chosen charity in 2008.

She said: “I have always enjoyed running and used to run three or four times a week, up to six to eight miles at a time. I have really missed it and decided that I was not going to let asthma stop me.”

“I did not know anything about CHASE until I started working for Reflex Express last year but it is a fantastic cause to support. We have done a lot of fundraising events at work and I decided I wanted to continue that.”

Viv will join the tens of thousands of runners in the Flora London Marathon on April 26th.

Anyone who would like to help her reach her goal can contact her on www.justgiving.com/vivgray

Reflex Express, which is this year celebrating its 40th anniversary, employs over 6,000 people, operates 3,000 vehicles and has over 85 Depots nationwide. The company handles 350,000 parcels daily.