Alexandru Sones-Dawkins, who lost his mother to cancer when he was 19, ran the London Marathon despite a serious knee injury 

A FINCHLEY Road resident has successfully jogged, hopped and skipped his way through a painful London Marathon with a knee injury in memory of his mum.

“Losing my mum to cancer at 19 was one of the most difficult things,” Alexandru Sones-Dawkins said.

“But in a weird way it kickstarted some of the more positive things that have come out of my development.”

Mr Sones-Dawkins, 25, grew up in Kilburn Park Road where he went to St Mary’s Primary School in Canterbury Road followed by the Brit School to study theatre.

He’s now back working in Kilburn again as an estate and neighbourhood mission coordinator. When he’s not organising knitting clubs for residents, he can be found on the catwalk.

After he was scouted at Reading Festival in 2017, Mr Sones-Dawkins has modelled for Vivienne Westwood and Versace.

Last month he ran the famous 26.2-mile race despite a serious knee injury which was so painful that he had to skip most of the race.

He finished the course in 5 hours. At the 12-mile mark his knee became too painful so he started skipping instead, which was the quickest way Mr Sones-Dawkins could move without bending his knee.

Mr Sones-Dawkins as a boy with his mother

He never felt like giving up, and while he felt “overwhelmed” at the end he mostly felt happiness during the race and was carried by the support from the crowd.

Mr Sones-Dawkins said he wanted to finish the marathon to show his mum he could.

He said: “She died at a time where I was just deep in the whole teenage rebellious phase.It’s unfortunate that she didn’t get to see me come out of that. And I sort of feel like I owe it to her to prove that I was able to do it.

“The day she died I couldn’t even bring myself to go to the hospital or the morgue. It was just like one day she was here and then she was gone.”

Having lived with his dad when he was growing up, Mr Sones-Dawkins went to live with his mum when he was 16, which became the “best summer” of his life.

He added: “I’m really glad I was able to understand what a mother’s love is because growing up, you’d always hear all the teachers referring to the mums who were in the playground coming to get you and I was always just the only one there without my mum.

“It always used to really bother me and I had no one to talk to about it. I’m glad I got to have that one year where I was a child and I lived with her.”