For the 39-year-old mother from Downham Market, simply finishing the 26.2-mile route on foot would be a victory.

This is not just because of the distance involved, but because she had overcome two rare liver diseases that once left her terrified she might not live to see her twin sons grow up.

In 2017, the keen runner started feeling unusually tired. 

This became the beginning of a life-changing diagnosis with a rare autoimmune condition called primary biliary cholangitis which - if left untreated - can destroy bile ducts and cause liver failure.  

Rebecca Judge in a liver costume at the Lord Mayors Show (Image: www.britishlivertrust.org.uk)

Mrs Judge was referred to a consultant and given medication. 

But three years later - after running a 5k - she was forced to spend a week in bed with exhaustion and developed jaundice before being admitted to hospital. 

“It was awful and I feared the worst,” she said.  

“Because of Covid restrictions I wasn’t allowed anyone with me in the hospital and had to relay this information to my husband who was then relaying it to my family.  

“My twin boys were seven-and-a-half then and I was scared they wouldn’t have a mum to grow up with.”  

Rebecca Judge walking the London Marathon (Image: www.britishlivertrust.org.uk)

Following more tests, she was diagnosed with another rare condition called autoimmune hepatitis, where the body’s immune system damages its own liver cells. Without treatment it can also cause liver failure.  

While the diagnosis initially "terrified the life" out of Mrs Judge, she said she was determined her two liver conditions would not stop her from living her life. 

“I don’t let my conditions rule my life," she added. 

“If I do too much, I perhaps feel tired for the next week or so, but liver disease won’t stop me achieving what I want to achieve.  

“I’m not going to think ‘I can’t do this anymore’.” 

In 2021, she walked the London Marathon in aid of the British Liver Trust, completing it in six hours and 21 minutes. She was also a special guest of the charity at the Lord Mayor’s Show in London in 2024.  

Rebecca Judge at the Lord Mayor's Show (Image: Dare & Hier Media Ltd)

Mrs Judge is shared her story to mark Rare Disease Day, which is marked globally each year on February 28. 

© Eastern Daily Press