A FORMER Exeter schoolgirl has beaten anorexia and drug addiction to run in the London Marathon.

Lara Wadey, 30, who attended St Peter's High School, is set to raise hundreds of pounds for mental health charity Mind on Sunday, April 26.

The charity is close to Lara's heart after her 10-year battle with food disorders and drug addiction.

Lara, who has been off drugs for five years and is mother to four-year-old daughter Tamzin, plans to raise money to help others.

Her proud parents Ruth and Gordon Wadey, of Pennsylvania, Exeter, are backing her all the way.

Lara said: "I was one of the lucky ones and thanks to the support of my family and friends I am still alive to tell my story. I was given a second chance at life and now it is my turn to give a little back."

That second chance came after Lara overdosed on heroin, after being off the drug, and years of treatment at the International Eating Disorder Centre in Aylesbury.

Her mother said: "Because she had been off drugs for so long, she overdosed, her system couldn't cope. She actually died.

"She said for an instant she left her body and asked herself if she wanted to keep on living. She did and came back. They battled 12 hours to save her and they did. She promised then never to go back to drugs.

"After that she got pregnant and we realised that was a miracle.

"The baby was born on November 5 — we thought that fitting given all the fireworks Lara had caused — and she and her partner Simon and Tamzin have not looked back since."

Lara has only been running for around two years but has completed a number of half marathons and is now training hard.

She had set a target of £1,600 for Mind and has already raised over £1,250.

She has also been accepted to take part in the New York Marathon in November when she will be running for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in memory of her friend Gavin Fallon, who died of the disease.

Lara's brother, Ross, 28, a PhD reseacher at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff, is also running in the London Marathon, to raise money for children's charity Smile.