Recovering Kate taps into Parkrun party atmosphere

The 42-year-old, who founded Rotherham Parkrun in 2013, has been making a slow and steady recovery after collapsing at home last December.

Her husband Adam and son Stanley joined regulars and first-timers at the weekly race — and Kate herself was able to tap into the party atmosphere from her hospital bed as Parkrun organisers streamed the event through their laptop.

Event organisers revealed there had been 298 runners taking on the 5k challenge on Saturday, including 86 who registered as first-timers for the event.

Almost £1,300 was raised to boost funds for Kate’s recovery and rehabilitation.

Adam said: “It was brilliant. It felt more like the Sheffield 10k because of the atmosphere.

“There were quite a few people from the hospital, including physiotherapy and speech therapy, as well as kids and teachers from Stanley’s school and a lot of Kate’s friends.

“Kath Westwood, who is overseeing Parkrun, hooked up her laptop and Kate was able to see what was going on through Teams. She just loved it — she got through half a box of tissues!

“Kate sent a message through WhatsApp give her heartfelt thanks to everyone for organising it.”

He added: “Stanley has never done the 5k before and was finding it hard but as we came past the museum on the second lap all the kids were cheering his name so he gritted his teeth and carried on.”

Fundraising for Kate’s recovery has now topped £40,000, and Adam said he was delighted by the latest wave of donations on Saturday.

“We’d heard they were going to do a collection but we only thought it would be a couple of hundreds but they got £1,300, which is fantastic,” he said.

“A friend has auctioned a Sheffield Wednesday shirt for £200 and a local leisure centre raised £600 with games and competitions including a Name the Bear contest.

“The support has just been remarkable and overwhelming.”

Another group of Kate’s friends are taking on a sponsored abseil next Monday (4) at a viaduct in the Peak District to further raise the fundraising total, with £2,100 pledged so far.

Kate Killeen and her colleagues at Brecks-based Enhanced Aesthetics will leap from Millers Dale Bridge.

Kate said: “Kate has been one of my best friends for the last 15 years and our children have grown up together, so it was an absolute no brainer for us to do something to raise money for her.”

Visit https://tinyurl.com/KateGreenabseil to make sponsor the team.

Adam said Kate’s recovery was progressing with help from speech therapists and physiotherapists and she was now moving closer to being able to walk by herself, as well as speaking complete sentences.

The couple are considering their options for which rehabilitation facility she can move into, hopefully as soon as May, with a view to her returning home by the end of the summer.

Asked to put into words what she thought of the support she had received, Kate said: “I feel absolutely blown away.”

You can make a donation towards her rehabilitation at tinyurl.com/KateGreenfundraiser.