A Heartfelt Tribute Through 26.2 Miles
Alicia Powell, a 25-year-old woman from Bristol, is preparing to undertake one of the world's most iconic endurance challenges with profound personal significance. She will run the 2026 London Marathon on Sunday, April 26, wearing a charity tank top adorned with a photograph of herself as a baby with her birth father. This powerful gesture honors a man she never had the chance to know in adulthood, having discovered his passing just months after she finally felt ready to reconnect.
A Reconnection Attempt That Came Too Late
Alicia was adopted at the age of seven into a loving and supportive family. As she matured into her twenties, a growing curiosity about her biological origins led her to a fateful decision in the summer of 2023. After discussing it with her adoptive parents, she reached out to her birth father via Facebook at age 22, driven by the fear that she would regret not making the attempt.
"I got to the point where I felt like, 'Okay, I'm ready, and if I don't do it now, I don't think I'll ever do it'," Alicia explained. When no reply came, a sense of unease prompted her to search his name online. The search revealed a local newspaper article announcing the death of a man matching his name and age on March 23, 2023.
"I was literally three-and-a-half months too late," Alicia recounted, describing the flood of regret, anger, sadness, and fear that followed. "It's a very unique situation, and no one gives you a rule book on how to navigate that."
Turning Grief Into Positive Action
Through this devastating discovery, Alicia learned her birth father had lived with coronary heart disease. She was able to connect with her half-brother and cousins from his side of the family, finding some solace in learning more about his life. However, she grappled with grieving the relationship that could never be.
In 2025, Alicia found a local support group for adoptees in Bristol, which provided a crucial community of people who understood the lifelong impact of adoption. Simultaneously, she rekindled a passion for running that began during the Covid-19 lockdowns. After completing the Bath Half Marathon in March 2025, she decided to apply for a charity place in the London Marathon.
In July 2025, she was accepted to run for the British Heart Foundation (BHF), a choice that felt deeply poignant. She discovered that her birth father's family had collected donations for the BHF at his funeral, making her fundraising efforts a direct continuation of his legacy.
Training for a Cause That Saves Lives
"It is a cause that is really, really worthwhile," Alicia emphasized. "It's helping a lot of people to get life-saving treatment and to recover from heart attacks, and also spread awareness about cardiovascular disease which affects millions of people." According to the BHF, cardiovascular disease claims a life in the UK every three minutes, affecting over eight million people nationwide.
Her training journey has not been without obstacles, including battles with shin splints and other injuries. Yet, she credits the process with teaching her resilience. "It's taken a really tricky situation and made me challenge my way of thinking about it," she reflected. "Things come up, things go wrong, but how can you adapt and how can you move forward and do what you can?"
A Legacy Run on Marathon Day
On race day, Alicia will be fully outfitted in BHF gear, including heart-patterned shorts and a heart headband. The centerpiece will be the tank top with the pinned photograph and a sign reading "this one's for you." She has already raised an impressive £3,000 for the charity.
"I like to believe he's up there somewhere, proud of me and smiling down and really grateful that I'm taking a situation and trying to do something in his legacy," Alicia shared. "If he was alive today, he probably would be so proud of me." By transforming her grief into a force for good, Alicia is not only honoring her birth father's memory but also contributing to vital heart disease research and support.
