Brighton fan raises £27,000 to buy medical supplies for Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has had a big impact on Brighton & Hove Albion. It forced Roman Abramovich into selling Chelsea to Todd Boehly, leading Graham Potter to move to Stamford Bridge and the Seagulls to appoint Roberto De Zerbi, who would have been Shakhtar Donetsk manager rather than out of work had Russia never invaded.

All of that is trivial though compared to what the people of Ukraine have gone through – including the family and friends of Brighton season ticket holder Anthony Seddon and his wife Anna.

The couple met when Anthony was travelling Ukraine watching England at Euro 2012 in a campervan which one day broke down in Anna’s home city of Dnipro.

This unscheduled stop whilst the van was fixed turned into marriage in 2013. The couple bought a house in Brighton in 2016 and now have two young children.

2022 however changed everything. When Russia went to war, the Seddons managed to secure safe passage out of Dnipro for Anna’s mother.

Less than 48 hours later, the city was hit by three missiles, leaving a local nursery burning. Anna’s brother and his young family remain in Dnipro, as do many of her friends.

Wanting to do something to help, Anthony decided he was going to run 1,569 miles at officially sanctioned running events – the distance between the Amex and the home of FC Dnipro – to raise money which would be used to send medical supplies to Dnipro.

One year on and Run2Ukraine has raised more than £27,000. The medical equipment has helped save lives. Having struggled to run a half marathon when Run2Ukraine began, Anthony has racked up 242 miles including three full marathons.

On the day Anthony ran his second marathon, 45 people were confirmed killed when a Russian missile hit a block of flats just a few streets away from where Anna’s family live.

Her colleague’s daughter and parents were in the building at the time, grandchildren visiting grandparents for the weekend. They were lucky to survive but their flat is unrecognisable.

Anna’s university friend who lived in the next block has developed a broken glass phobia as a result of the missile. The damage left glass everywhere; on the pillow she used to sleep on, in her son’s hair, in all the family food.

Along with the murdered, 79 people were injured including 16 children. 29 were hospitalised with 10 in intensive care. The medical supplies sent by Run2Ukraine would have helped prevent an unimaginably bad situation becoming even worse.

Anthony runs in the yellow and blue Brighton away kit of the 2020-21 season. The colours have become a familiar sight at events across Sussex and beyond, from 5km Parkruns on a Saturday morning to the full 26.2 miles marathon distance.

Others have taken up the challenge of running events alongside Anthony, encouraging their own friends to donate to the cause. The more people who run in England, the more people Run2Ukraine can help in Dnipro.

With well over 1000 miles still to run, Anthony is far from his target distance. But the war in Ukraine is far from over.

If you can afford and would like to donate to support Run2Ukraine, you can do so through the Gofundme page.

Anthony has the Brighton Half Marathon and the Endurance Eastbourne Marathon coming up in February and March as well as Parkruns at Hove Park, Preston Park, Worthing Prom and Hove Prom.

Anyone who would like to run alongside Anthony and the rest of the Run2Ukraine team can find out more information by emailing run2ukraine@gmail.com.

To keep up-to-date with Anthony’s running challenge and show your support that way, you can follow Run2Ukraine on Instagram.

Slava Ukraini.