On the fifth anniversary of a day that modified Newfoundland’s Jessica Foley’s life, she feels able to take certainly one of life’s largest steps. On Could 26, 2019, Foley’s husband, Steven Trickett, was operating the half marathon at Ottawa Race Weekend when he went into deadly cardiac arrest within the last kilometre. Foley, seven months pregnant on the time, was left to navigate an unimaginable sea of grief on her personal with their two-year-old daughter.
For the previous 5 years, Ottawa Race Weekend has been a painful reminder for Foley, however this Sunday, she’s going to be part of 1000’s of others on the beginning line for the Ottawa Half Marathon, able to honour her husband’s reminiscence and take one other step in her therapeutic.
Foley, 40, has by no means run a half marathon however stumbled upon a documentary final summer season about one other Newfoundland athlete (who additionally went via the tragic lack of their companion) and began coaching for an Ironman. “I used to be immediately impressed,” says Foley.
When Foley advised her shut family and friends that she supposed to return to Ottawa subsequent 12 months, they gave assist. She was put in touch with a program known as Playful Mindset, which focuses on supporting youngsters’s psychological well being and addressing hostile childhood experiences within the early years. “My aim was to lift $1,000, and we now have reached $11,000,” says Foley. “Funds as a widow are powerful; you lose that second earnings. It makes issues a lot more difficult. This group affords extra packages.”
She is going to run the half marathon with Ottawa’s Marnie Energy, a grief counsellor specializing in serving to youngsters course of loss and trauma. They met final 12 months whereas Foley was enrolled in Playful Mindset. The connection was fast, they usually found a unprecedented coincidence: Energy was there along with her husband throughout his last moments in 2019. “The universe has introduced many individuals and connections into my life over the previous 5 years, and Marnie is certainly one of them,” Foley says.
Foley, who might be sporting the identical bib quantity that her late husband wore in 2019—bib 11985—may have Energy operating alongside her.
Foley has gone via a battle with grief over the previous 5 years, however via packages like Playful Mindset and assembly different widowed ladies, she feels assured in sharing her story. “The feelings typically are overwhelming, and getting my feelings out has grow to be my outlet,” she says. “I’m prepared for a very good cry and craving the thrill to get there.”
Trickett is remembered by his children and Foley as an unbelievable man, born to be a dad. “I at all times share tales of him with the youngsters and attempt to weave his affect into their upbringing nevertheless I can,” says Foley. “This race means a lot to me; I need to present our daughters that we are able to do onerous issues within the face of trauma and loss.”
Should you’d prefer to assist Foley’s Ottawa Race Weekend fundraiser for Playful Mindset, you are able to do so right here.
