A HEROIC marathon runner fought against an oncoming epileptic fit 20 miles into Sunday's event to complete the race to raise money for Oxford Children's Hospital.

Craig Harris was having epileptic seizures every other day before his life-changing brain surgery at the John Radcliffe Hospital in 2013 - his reason for running the marathon.

But 19 miles into the race the father-of-two felt the early warning signs of what would have been his first seizure in four years.

The 35-year-old, from Bicester said: "I was going at a decent pace but then my right eye began to mist over and my vision became blurred.

"I carried on for two more miles until I got pins and needles in my arms and legs - another early warning sign.

"I was quite panicked at this point because it had been four years since I had had a seizure."

At the 21-mile point he spotted a St John Ambulance tent and headed in for treatment.

He was assessed by medics, who took his blood, laid him down for half an hour and gave him fluids.

The car mechanic, who works in Kidlington, said: "My fiancee Victoria was very upset, she was following me on an app and saw that I had gone from 7-minute miles to not moving at all.

"She called me while I was on the floor in the tent and it was quite emotional."

But the 35-year-old was determined not to let his 400-mile training regime end without finishing his first marathon and was propelled to the line by the thought of his three-year-old daughter Clara, and six-month-old Dexter, watching on at home. He was aiming for a finish time of three hours and 15 minutes but completed the race in four hours 17 minutes.

He said: "I'm disappointed and I want to go and do it again next year, I know I'm better than the time I ran.

"But ultimately I'm proud to have finished the London Marathon, my daughter went to nursery yesterday with a 'My Dad Ran the London Marathon' t-shirt.

"She motivated me to push on and finish the last few miles, I knew the only way she would see me on TV is if I passed the finish line - and she did.

He added: "She rewound the footage four or five times and I came home to handprints all over the TV."

Mr Harris, who was diagnosed with Cavernoma - a lump on his brain - when he was 24, has been a regular fundraiser with the Play2Give charity over the past decade and he was running the marathon for Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Charitable Funds, which in turn assigned his efforts to the Children's Hospital's 10th anniversary pot.

Sarah Vaccari, from the charity, said: "When Craig told us his story after finishing the London Marathon we were blown away.

"As a charity we were lucky enough to have 27 runners in Sunday’s London Marathon, supporting causes across our hospitals, and all of them are heroes to us - but Craig’s story is astonishing.

"He has shown incredibly courage and determination – and we are all really proud of him.

"I know he was a little disappointed with his time, but in our eyes he really is a champion."

He is currently just short of his £1,600 target but hoped his efforts would get his total over the line.

Mr Harris added: "I wanted to return the favour for what the hospital has done for me and the children's hospital is such a worthy cause

"If my efforts to finish the race help the charity then it's a good outcome."

To donate to his cause go to justgiving.com/fundraising/Craig-Harris21